


Bluebirds Without Wings

by staristired



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Kingdom, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Julie is a princess, Luke is a knight, There's still music, i blame breath of the wild for this honestly start searching for parallels, implied violence but nothing graphic, not enemies enemies but Julie doesnt like Luke at the start, this still takes place in the modern world btw it's not a medieval kingdom or timeline, will add tags as I go on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28127853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staristired/pseuds/staristired
Summary: After an alarming incident, Julie's dad (the King), assigned her and Carlos each a knight to keep them safe for the first time in their lives. Carlos is fine with it, but Julie is not exactly thrilled with having a strange brooding boy follow her everywhere- especially when she's still trying to find her place in the kingdom after the death of her mom. It's not easy to figure out who you are and pick up pieces of who you were when someone is breathing down your neck, and she makes sure Luke and her dad (the King) know how how she feels. Her dad (the King), won't budge and lets Luke keep his post despite all of Julie's efforts to get him sent away.Although this creates a definitive tension between them, there is no denying that some people are just signs sent from those who have left us.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 34
Kudos: 135





	1. The Birdwatcher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story starts off really slow but picks up pace after 2 chapters!

It was another pink day in the castle. The banquet was happening all below, but Julie didn’t plan to go anywhere near it. She was standing out on her balcony, staring out at the kingdom and at the birds. She wished she could trade spots with a blue jay- even if it was just for one day. The weight of a blue jay’s wings is but a decimal of the weight of grief. A blue jay probably wouldn’t know that their mom is dead. A blue jay would assume she’s somewhere- out there- and they’ll meet up for migration that Winter like they always have. Denial must be bliss she always thought.

But Winter and Spring had all left as well as the snow and the constellations Julie used to see in the sky. She only sees an entire universe that could swallow her whole, and she only knows peace when she shuts her eyes and dreams of singing with her mom for the people in the town square. She hoped they didn’t think that she was gone, too.

She heard the door from inside her room open, but she didn’t bother looking to see who it was. She was more interested in seeing which direction a trio of crows would take.

“To the square or to the graveyard?” Flynn asked, looking out with her. Julie pointed at the crows she had been watching as they flew in circles around each other.

“I think they’re playing right now.”

“Crows.” Flynn scrunched up her face. One had dropped a little present for her on her head a few years ago at a public event, and she didn’t seem to be too fond of the idea that it was a symbol good luck. “Probably the graveyard. They’re going to take their little shovels and little graverobber pin buttons and start grave robbing.” Julie watched Flynn pretend to be interested in her bird watching activities, peering closely at the birds who made her run out of the square in shame when she was eleven. Julie had chased after her to comfort her. Flynn was doing a lot of that in these past few months.

Although Flynn would never turn her in, Julie still had to ask, “Are they looking for me?”

“Not yet,” she said. “Someone asked about you and your brother started talking about bugs or something to distract them.” Carlos seemed to take attention better after their mother’s death. Julie on the other hand, wasn’t a fan. It worked out for the two of them. It’s how they looked out for one another.

Julie saw the crows head off in the direction of the graveyard just like Flynn had predicted. She hoped they’d be able to find nourishment in something on her mom’s altar. “The king’s son wants to be an entomologist and his daughter is starting to resemble Icarus. I can’t imagine what the people are saying.”

Flynn put her hand over Julie’s. “ _Your_ people don’t care. They also miss her.” Julie knew exactly who Flynn was talking about. The people in the smaller villages of the kingdom that seldom used electricity and provided most of the crops for the kingdom. Too many times had building a school in those areas been denied and her and her mom could never figure out why. They would go there almost every weekend to build relationships until her mom became bedridden for two years and later died. Julie was almost sure those people got the news last.

Julie looked up at the white clouds adorning the velvet pink skies. Their contrast made the world seem perfect for a moment. She was pulled back from impossibility when a tear fell down to her collarbone. “I hope they remember her.”

“They always will.”

After a few moments of spacing out and thinking about her mom showing newborn baby Carlos the clouds, Julie realized the crows were completely out of view. She imagined them perched on a headstone, cawing in joy. “Let’s go in?” Julie asked Flynn.

Flynn gave a mock bow and a genuine smile, “You are the princess.” Julie couldn’t help but smile, appreciating the unmatched warmth Flynn brought into her life.

They sat in the middle of Julie’s king sized bed, Flynn looking for something interesting to watch on Netflix as Julie blanked out again. She always found it hard to stay present and although it had gotten better, she couldn’t help but vanish even when she still existed on the Earth.

A loud noise brought her back. Her and Flynn looked at each other with wide eyes, Flynn not screaming as she usually would. It confirmed to Julie what the noise was- a gunshot.

Julie quickly moved off the bed, pulling Flynn with her and walking her into her closet. It was like another small bedroom dedicated to her wardrobe that now held many of her mom’s pieces weaved between hers. Sometimes it was nice, sometimes it drove her insane. Flynn was starting to breathe heavily, stumbling on her walk, and Julie knew she couldn’t stop or she would also start to unravel. Once she did, nothing and nobody could get her to move.

She went into the edge of her closet where her ballroom dresses were hung up and pulled them apart. There was a tiny ribbon in the corner, and she pulled it, the wall easily coming open like a door. She pushed Flynn into the five by five room, not registering that she was in there shutting the door until it was complete darkness.

Julie began to process the noises all happening at once when they were completely locked in. The panic below. The yelling of knights. The alarm system was blaring loudly now, and it was lasering away any progress she had made towards recovery since her mom’s burial. She sunk to the floor, starting to cry. Flynn fell in place next to her, humming a soft song. Flynn wouldn’t cry if Julie was crying. It was an unspoken thing that only one of them could cry at the same time. It’s how they took care of each other. Even if for a moment Julie had finally been the one to run to save them from whatever was happening outside, Flynn was back to being her guardian. 

Julie felt like they were in there for an hour, but it had only been twenty minutes when Flynn’s phone went off. Flynn checked her phone and whispered to Julie, “They’re looking for us. My mom said to tell you to text your dad where you are. Or Bobby. Everyone else is in the bomb shelter.”

“I don’t have my phone,” Julie whispered, wiping her face with the palms of her hand. The idea of calling Bobby first for support amused her for a quick second. “Do you have my dad’s number?”

Flynn nodded her head _no_. “Kind of weird to ask the King for his phone number, don’t you think?” Julie smiled and rolled her eyes, grabbing Flynn’s phone from her.

“Did she not ask how you were?” Julie looked at the texts quickly before going to the dial pad. She didn’t mean to, but it flew by.

“She knows I can fight.”

“That is true.” Julie dialed one of her dad’s phone numbers, already trying to recall the other one if he didn’t pick up. It didn’t even fully ring before he picked up.

“Julie?” her dad whispered. There were people talking around him, most likely half a dozen knights sworn in to protect him. She hoped he trusted all of them because he really had to for once in his life. The Inmarcesible Kingdom was a quiet and peaceful place, usually staying out of neighboring conflicts and staying neutral when possible. Someone seemed to be after them.

“I’m safe with Flynn,” Julie said. She was always trained not to say her whereabouts in an emergency unless told to, just in case the enemy was listening. Flynn’s mom, for example, could’ve easily gotten them all killed if there was a part two to whatever was going on. “Are you and Carlos safe?”

“Yes,” he assured her. “I love you very much. Don’t move until you hear it from me myself okay?” Julie could hear how hard he was straining to not cry. Julie bit her lip, fighting back her own crying to be able to talk.

“I love you, too.” He hung up without another word, probably because he wouldn’t be able to say anything more. Julie handed Flynn’s phone to her and took a few deep breaths like she was taught in therapy.

In the echoing distance, she could’ve sworn she heard another gunshot.


	2. Dahlias in the Dining Room

Julie and Flynn sat in silence as everything stayed subdued in the castle. The people that were at the banquet were most likely also silent in the bomb shelter, and her dad and his knights were who knows where whispering about what. She wished she had Carlos with her, but something in her mind ticked her into the direction of the idea that she needed him more than he needed her. He was probably the one keeping people comfortable wherever he was, keeping them distracted. She will always think he should’ve been the first born.

A full hour went by and Julie fought hard to not imagine the worse. But she always got quick and impulsive thoughts of _the second gunshot was for my dad_ , and it filled her to the brim with panic. Flynn usually talked a lot to keep them distracted but even she was a drained and worried. They both said nothing, just Flynn humming a tune when the silence weighed too much.

Before a second hour went by, Flynn got a call. She scattered to answer, “Hello?” She then passed it to Julie, looking uncertain. “It’s your dad,” she whispered.

Julie nodded and held the phone up to her ear. “Dad?”

“Everything is alright. They’re evacuating the guests now but stay in your room for tonight. There are knights posted outside yours and Carlos’ door as an extra precaution. Tell them if you need food or anything.”

“What happened?” Julie asked him. There was forced silence, her dad cutting himself off.

“You will know soon enough. Just know nobody got hurt.”

“You can’t not tell me.”

“I love you, Julie. See you tomorrow.” She had been thinking for the last two hours her dad wasn’t getting a tomorrow and now she would have to make it through the whole night with an uncertain dread.

“I love you.” She sighed and hung up, starting to feel a bit furious. She stood up, opening the secret door for her and Flynn. “They’re evacuating the guests. You can stay the night if you want.”

“Yeah, I’ll text my parents,” Flynn told her. “You know I wouldn’t leave you alone after this.” Julie thanked her, feeling a little more at ease that Flynn would be there if she woke up with nightmares. She would’ve dragged Carlos in her room if she left, but he tended to just stare at her when she cried. She hoped he was as okay as he seemed.

* * *

The banquet from the night before was to mark half a year since her mom’s death. Grief in her kingdom was drinking until you pass out from laughing or alcohol poisoning. Julie was not like the most of them and instead lingered in her room and cried it out, sometimes alone, sometimes with a therapist or Flynn.

Julie came down the castle steps and found that the main area and attached ballroom were still a mess from the night before. She walked through the halls until she reached the family dining room. It was separate from their large one when they’d have important people over for dinner. This one was designed by their mom for them so that they wouldn’t get lost in the grand scheme of things and still be a family meal like any other. She built the square wooden table and all four chairs on her own. She had carved dahlias in every single chair and Julie remembered playing her toy piano as her mom worked on them. In the middle of the table was a handmade vase that her dad had gifted her mom when he was still a prince. It had music notes and their names painted on it and when Julie and Carlos were each born, their names were added.

Julie sat down at the empty table, waiting for her dad to go in for breakfast. He texted her to twenty minutes before their regular breakfast time so Carlos wouldn’t hear what he had to tell her. He never hid things from Julie or her mom. He always told Julie that he wanted her to be prepared to be queen whenever the day came, even if it was unexpected. Julie knew that was only so because her granddad has passed away young, and a year into being married, her dad became king with almost no knowledge of political affairs.

He walked in, his blue eyes less spirited than usual. Any light that had poured into them during the grieving process had been dimmed out again. He sat across from Julie, not a good morning before saying, “The person who sent the first shot is in custody. The second gunshot was from us.” Now that she had had time to process that what she went to the night before wasn’t a movie scene, hearing this news made her nauseous and dizzy. She put a hand up to her temple and stared at him. “They’re interrogating him. We think he’s one of King Caleb’s people.”

King Caleb ruled the neighboring Kingdom of Malachite. Julie had been there a few times growing up on “see, we’re all friends” business for the press. Her mom didn’t like going there, but Julie never knew why. “Has he always been after us?”

“Since we declared neutral about eight years ago in their dispute with Marron Kingdom.” He reached out and grabbed her free hand on the table, squeezing it gently. “We’re going to make sure nothing happens to you guys. Bobby suggested something that I agreed to. It’ll give me a greater peace of mind.” Julie watched her dad look away, and that’s how she knew she wouldn’t like the idea. Her mom always told her he wasn’t good at eye contact when delivering bad news.

“What is it?”

“Assigned knights.” Julie retracted her hand.

“What?” She stared at him, mouth open. She had never had to go anywhere in the kingdom guarded, ever. She enjoyed her freedom and it allowed her to walk away from the castle life whenever she wanted.

“It will only be until everything is figured out,” he pleaded his case.

Julie ran her hands through her hair. “That could take years.”

“Please, Julie. I need to make sure you and Carlos are safe. We’re giving you the best of the best. Bobby said he has perfect people in mind so it’s not so weird.” Julie took a deep breath, stopping herself from running off. Her dad had other things to worry about now, and she didn’t want to be a problem for him. Teenage rebellion could come another time.

“What about you?” Julie asked. “Who is keeping you safe?”

“A couple of knights, also. Don’t worry about me, okay? Important thing is making sure Carlos’ knight doesn’t quit in a week because he won’t stop talking.” Julie smiled despite her feelings.

* * *

Carlos and Julie stood in the throne room alone, dressed in fancy clothes, although she would be going straight to her room after this. She tugged at embroidered sunflowers on her skirt, accidentally undoing a string. Their dad was standing outside the shut twenty-foot door with Bobby, some other knights, and their new assigned knights. Flynn asked what made them different from bodyguards and all Julie could think to say is, “They are obligated to fight to the death for us.”

Julie jumped a little in place when the door opened, her dad walking in with two knights behind him. One had combed dark hair, a face plastered with a nervous frown, and he straightened his back out mid-walk as if he forgot he were on duty.

The other one was a knight. A deep bruise on his face, disheveled hair, and a stoic look that made it seem as if he had walked right off a battlefield. But there’s no way they had lived long enough to see a war, the last one being over fifty years ago. Julie raised an eyebrow. There’s no way they were even half of fifty years old. Julie got a clearer view of them as they each stood in front of her and Carlos, her dad standing apprehensively in the middle with his arms crossed.

They each bent on one knee, her dad saying, “Princess Julie, this is Sir Luke Patterson. Prince Carlos, this is Sir Reginald Petters.”

Julie scanned their faces one more time for even a stress line, before looking at her dad in disbelief, “They’re boys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is two out of three of them!!! Alex will come in later I promise. I'll probably do the next chapter centered around Luke, depending what I'm feeling next time. Let me know how it's going so far, I know chapter one is a bit strange as I hop into this AU. I'm a big feelings person.


	3. Heel

“Boys?” Reggie whispered under his breath. Luke wanted to shoot him a glare and tell him to be quiet, but he wouldn’t give the Princess the satisfaction proving that yes, he was a boy. Sort of. He was seventeen, and he had been in the knight academy for two years already. Reggie had been in there since he was thirteen and despite everyone underestimating him, he the best of the best. Luke on the other hand? He was just trouble.

“Princess Julie,” King Raymundo scolded her. It shocked Luke to hear the King break character. He guessed that even Kings had to break out into parenting mode on occasion. “You two may rise.” Luke stood up and right in front of him stood the disappointed Princess in all her five-foot-five glory. She wore a long dress full of sunflowers that reminded him of his mom’s little garden she had in a broken bathtub. He only allowed himself to let his eyes graze for a quick second as he was trained to look at the wall above his superior’s heads. Eye contact wasn’t respectable. King Raymundo cleared his throat and told his kids, “You two are to be with these men at all time.” Luke felt like the word men was just to make them feel better. “They will sleep outside your rooms, be with you in every part of the castle, and any part of the kingdom you wish to go to. Please,” he turned his head to Princess Julie, “do not give them any problems.”

The Princess didn’t seem like a troublemaker in any videos and photos Luke had seen of her. If anything, she always seemed kind and respectful, like she was a commissioned statue that came to life with the power of a fairy. Luke had a hard time thinking of her as someone rambunctious or capable of causing trouble which is why he took the job in the first place.

Princess Julie curtsied with a scowl and started walking out without a word. Luke turned quickly to the King, who he didn’t expect to shrug. So many formalities had just been broken, and in the academy, it would’ve cost him a dinner. He looked back at the Princess who was already out the door and hurried after her. He could’ve sworn the King wished him good luck before he was out in the hall.

He had never been deep inside the castle. The most he had gone in was the main room and the ball when there was a celebration for the knights every year. He looked around the halls full of old family portraits and landscapes of the kingdom he didn’t recognize. At certain points, the Princess would turn her head to look at him as if to confirm that he was still there. She seemed to be frustrated with the truth, a little stomp in her step.

The made it to the second floor after going through a staircase hidden behind a door, and her heels clicked quickly down the marbled floors. Luke was fast, but he wouldn’t underestimate the damage the Princess could do in sneakers. She looked back one last time before opening the door of her room and shutting it with a loud echo that clapped down the hall. Luke halted a few feet before the door, not sure what to do with all his curiosity.

He stood outside her door like he was told to and only fought off the temptation to look at his phone for five minutes before giving in. He had tried pressing his ear against the door to try to hear for any signs of life, but the Princess was silent. He hoped everyday wasn’t that boring.

* * *

It was five in the afternoon, and Luke was starving. Skipping breakfast that morning wasn’t his brightest idea, but he couldn’t risk being late for the King himself. He was only allowed to eat when she ate, so he waited patiently. Reggie and Prince Carlos hadn’t gone by at all which meant Reggie had got the fun sibling and they were out doing who knows what. All Luke knew about the Prince was that he spent a lot of time hunting for bugs and could be found running around the town square with the other kids. They didn’t even feel like a royal family sometimes with how much they allowed themselves to get close to people. Luke still had some hope that Princess Julie wasn’t as cold as she presented herself.

When the doorknob first rattled, Luke put his phone in his suit pocket and straightened himself out. Having to wear business clothes everyday was the one thing about being a knight that didn’t make sense to him. He needed to be able to run if he had to.

Princess Julie walked out and without as much as a glance and made her way down the hall. Luke followed behind her, hoping she was walking to the dining room. She seemed so tense in her walk, now wearing a simpler silk dress and house slippers.

On the first floor of the castle, they made it inside a small dining room where the King was sitting with Prince Carlos at the table. Luke got down at one knee at the sight of the King, Princess Julie continuing her walk to sit down. “Stand, Sir Luke,” the King said. Luke did as he was told and tried to take in the small room without moving his eyes so much. This didn’t seem to be a dining room for royal family but just a regular family in the village. “You can go down to this hall and eat with Sir Reginald in the other dining room. Julie,” he cleared his throat. “Princess Julie will let you know when she’s done.”

Luke nodded before excusing himself, walking down the hall in search of the dining room. He stopped at a big family picture of the royal family, the late Queen included. The dazzling smile on a younger Princess Julie was vast, and she was holding her mom’s hand. The difference between the Princess then and the Princess now was understandable and depressing.

Luke kept walking until he entered a room with a long table that had seating for about twenty people. Only Reggie was eating a banquet of food alone at the end. Luke smiled going to sit in the chair next to him, glad to finally have some company and food. At the knight academy, he was surrounded by over thirty people nonstop. Alone time wasn’t something he was used to.

“Luke,” Reggie grinned, noticing him only when he pulled out the chair. “Can you believe how awesome our jobs are?”

“Your job may be awesome but mine is kind of boring so far.” Luke started serving himself small bits of food, not used to have huge portions to himself anymore.

“The Prince told me Julie might be mean to you at first, but that she’s just nervous about everything that is happening.” Reggie stopped for a moment and looked around. “I don’t he knows about King Caleb’s threat though. He probably assumes it has to do with the queen.”

“If the princess knows, it’s probably both. She hasn’t even talked to me.” Luke didn’t realize how much it bothered him until he started talking about it.

Reggie tilted his head, drinking from a straw. “Like, at all?”

“Not a single word.”

“She’s probably just not used to this. Remember Bobby told us they’ve been unguarded their whole life.” Reggie had a point, so Luke decided not to take it personally. “Prince Carlos and I went to the square because he had a soccer match with some kids. They all made fun of my clothes.” Reggie sounded hurt as he fixed his collar.

“We need a better uniform.” Luke agreed with the kids; their clothes needed work. But there was no way they were going to dress as knights in shining armor. It was 2021. They had bulletproof vests underneath their shirts and that was it.

Reggie replied, “Just better shoes would do it. It’s impossible to play soccer in dress shoes.” Before Luke could ask anything, there was running down the hall. Luke and Reggie looked at each other before standing up and walking into the hallway. Prince Carlos was already walking towards them.

He pointed back and said, “My sister went back to her room.” Luke’s empty stomach nagged at him, but he did have a duty that made him chase after her. If he swore to die for this girl, his cause of death would most likely be starvation.

He caught up with her within seconds at the staircase, and she looked furious when she saw him. She abruptly stopped, Luke ignoring her stumbling that almost caused her to fall. When she straightened herself out, she yelled out, “Do not follow me! Go figure it out with my dad- the King or whatever you call him.” She turned back around, her curls flying as she started running back up. Already an instinct, Luke stayed in her trail. She turned around once more when they were in the hallway of her room and she said, “I am literally safe. I am not going to die if you take your eyes off me for one minute! Geeze! Go eat or something.” Luke stared at her for a moment, catching the bonfire in her eyes that made him look up at the furthest wall behind her as he felt a spark of it set him aflame. “It’s an order.”

The heel of Luke’s foot that had been trained to follow every order without question on the brink of collapse, almost did turn around. But the King was a higher power above Julie. He simply bowed his head down and apologized, “I am sorry, Princess. My orders are from the King.” Luke didn’t look up again until her room door had slammed shut.

If the Princess didn’t like him before, she definitely hated him now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like enemies to lovers is even more inaccurate now because I can't bring myself to get Luke to hate Julie. We'll see how how he develops in the scenes I have planned next. Thank u for reading!!


	4. A Scowl and A Smile

Luke stood at her door for a while before Reggie and Prince Carlos came up to the hallway. “We brought you food,” Prince Carlos said with a grin, handing Luke the plate in his hand. “Don’t listen to my sister.” Luke already hadn’t. “She will be nicer soon.” He hoped.

“Thank you, Prince Carlos,” Luke smiled as he received the food. He hadn’t given himself the chance to take in how wonderful it had smelled when he thought he was going to eat the first time.

“I’ll be in my room taking a shower,” Prince Carlos told Reggie before going into the door across from Julie’s. He peaked his head out after a second and said to Reggie, “We can play that game later.” He shut the door again after Reggie gave him a thumbs up and a smile. Reggie turned his attention to Luke and nodded his head towards the food.

“Get to eating,” he told him. Luke didn’t have to be told twice.

After a few bites, Luke asked, “Are we allowed to have food up here?” Reggie shrugged.

“It was the King’s idea, so if they tell us anything, we can blame him.”

Luke laughed at the thought. “Snitch on the King?” King Raymundo was as kind as he seemed in all the news he had read on him. It was no wonder the people always talked about him with such tenderness.

“I wouldn’t call it snitching if it’s the truth.” Reggie pulled out his phone and started playing a game while Luke ate the food on his plate. It was piled up, more than the servings they’d get at the academy. He didn’t realize how hungry he had been for years. His mom would probably cry at the thought.

He put the plate on a maid cart down the hall, Reggie shaking his head in disapproval. Luke looked at Reggie with his brow raised when he returned. “What?”

“Can’t walk down to the kitchen to put it back?”

“We can’t leave our posts.”

“I’m right here,” Reggie said. “Remember they told us at least one of us has to up and functioning when they’re together.”

“If something happens?”

“The kitchen is a five-minute walk.” Reggie walked to the cleaning cart and took the plate, handing it back to Luke. “There. Go take it. No excuses.” Luke sheepishly received it and started making his way to the kitchen, hoping not to run into anyone important- or anyone at all. Reggie had been a house cleaner for a year when he was fourteen to pay for his academy training, so he didn’t appreciate messes. He had only stopped when the higher-ups decided he was too gifted to be at risk of getting kicked out, so they granted him a free education.

Luke peaked his head in the small family dining room that was now empty, taking in the golden hour rays that lit up the room through the ceiling tall windows. It was ethereal without all the tension. He didn’t know what urged him to look inside there, but it gave him a sense of peace to have seen it like that. He walked out again and made his way to a noisy room where he could hear loud laughing from the inside. The minute he walked through, a couple of maids and chefs straightened up as if the King had walked in.

An older man looked at him and sighed in relief, “It’s one of the royal knights.” They all relaxed and went back to their tasks, Luke standing there awkwardly with the plate. He looked around for a moment until he caught the eye of a blonde woman who smiled. She seemed motherly with her rosy cheeks and dirty apron.

She walked up to him and asked, “Need something?”

“I came to wash this,” he said, pointing at his plate.

“I can take that from you,” she said. “Has the Princess eaten anything?”

“I don’t think she ate at dinner,” Luke said, scratching the back of his head.

“You ate before her?” a chef asked from his corner, gathering all the attention from the kitchen. They all looked at him as if he had committed a crime. Luke felt himself get hot in the face before they all started laughing.

The blonde woman told him, “He’s just messing with you. I’ll send food up for her in an hour. She sometimes needs to cool off, but she’s a very sweet girl. These are just hard times.” Luke nodded as she took the plate and walked away. His business was done, so he left back upstairs, wondering why the face of the woman very familiar to him.

* * *

“Hey, Luke,” Reggie asked him as they stood guard. “Do we get beds?” Reggie was already dancing side to side, his feet hurting. They had contents in the academy to see who could stand guard the longest without sleeping and although Reggie could beat him in anything, Luke always one-upped him there.

“I don’t know,” Luke said. “I thought we just sleep in the hall and one of us stays guard.”

“That seems cheap,” Reggie pointed out. Being a royal knight sounded like a glamourous job, but it wasn’t when the royal family was stationary. They seldom left the kingdom unless it was for family vacations that they hadn’t had in years or for photo ops with the neighboring kingdoms. From what they told them, the Princess hadn’t left the castle in months, and Bobby told him the Princess would only get attacked if King Caleb grew desperate. Either way, he was posted outside her room and this would be his job until the negotiations were over or until war would force them to flee.

“We only get Sundays nights off and have to be back by 6AM. They must be really scared of King Caleb.” Reggie had a thing for telling people things they already knew so they could never tell him he was wrong or dumb. Before Luke got to the academy, Reggie was looked down at by the other member’s for being a favorite and had to develop strategies to stay on the downlow.

Luke looked at the clock on his phone, nothing new to distract him. Nothing was more exciting than watching the minute change. The only thing that had happened in the past hour was someone going up to give Princess Julie food. It was the first time he saw her smile in person as she thanked the maid. He liked how her smile turned her into a different person, the Princess Julie who was as kind as they said.

“Yeah,” he mumbled, already forgetting what Reggie told him. They both stood in silence until they heard footsteps coming down the hall. He turned and saw a young girl head towards them as if she lived there. He tried remembering what the instructions for visitors were, and he looked at Reggie as if he had clarification. Reggie looked back at Luke, also confused with her presence.

The girl who seemed the same age as the Princess stood in front of Luke. “Hi, I’m Lady Flynn. I need to talk to the Princess.”

Luke once again looked at Reggie who turned his head away, seeing as it wasn’t his problem and didn’t want to be blamed for any mishap. Luke sighed and looked at Flynn. Before he could think of anything to say, she spoke, “Now, please.” The change in tone surprised him.

“I need to make a quick call first,” he said, unlocking his phone to call Bobby.

“No, you don’t. They know me here.”

“It’s just a new protocol,” he tried to explain as he nervously looked for Bobby’s number. Her eyes were like lasers.

“Julie!” she yelled out, making Luke flinch and drop his phone. Who knew so much sound could come from a little person? “Julie!”

“Please, Miss,” Luke scrambled to pick up his phone from the floor, looking up at Flynn who was now pounding on the locked door.

“Julie, I know the walls are sound proof but let me in! Feel my connection!” Luke stood up straight again and got in front of the door, Flynn hitting him in the chest in the process.

“Please, I just need to make one phone call,” Luke tried to explain to her, holding out his phone.

“So do I then,” Flynn stood back and pulled out a phone. Before either of them could dial, Princess Julie’s door opened. Flynn had a huge grin full of triumph on her face and all Luke could do was stare at the Princess. She had a scowl and furrowed eyebrows directed at him, and her being angry made the hair on his neck rise.

“Let her in whenever she’s here,” Princess Julie said, pulling in Flynn by the hand. She scolded him, “That’s an order for the entire castle.”

Luke lowered his head, “Yes, Princess Julie.” When the door shut, he let out a big sigh, rubbing his temples. He didn’t know how he was going to endure months of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick chapter I finished while getting ready for Christmas dinner :) Hope you all have happy holidays! I like having shorter chapters because it makes me feel better about updating more often. Right now we're pretty stationary but we should get more movement and interactions between Julie and Luke next chapter.


	5. Crow Bait

It was nearly 11PM when Princess Julie walked out of her bedroom with Flynn, arm in arm. Luke stood back and watched them walk down the hall in a laughing fit, waving at Reggie before following behind them. He hadn’t seen Princess Julie behave so open and free. Hearing her laugh echo down the hall and watching her curls fall out of her messy updo reminded him that she was also a teenager. A teenage girl with her best friend to say the least.

They ended up at the wood castle doors which were at least 30 feet tall, the bullet hole from the banquet covered poorly with white puddy. Luke stood five feet away from them as they whispered goodbye and final messages, and he watched Julie’s face for a chance to get a glimpse of her smile. He did, and it was radiant.

Flynn turned to look directly at Luke and took her phone out of her pocket, walking over to hand it to him. He mechanically took it, but he was confused. “Sorry for being a little dramatic earlier,” she said with a sheepish smile. Julie was standing with her arms crossed in the back, but Luke couldn’t read her face. “Can you put your phone number in,” she asked him. “Just for emergencies?”

“Of course, Lady Flynn,” Luke said, trying to remember his number and his formal training on how to address a lady of the court. “And don’t worry about earlier. It’s all in the past.” He felt like the more he talked, the more educated he sounded to them. He typed it out and called the number, feeling a buzz in his pocket. He hung up and handed back the phone to Flynn who seemed to be examining his face.

“Thank you.” She took it back and wasted no time asking, “How old are you?” The Princess let out a sign in the background, and Luke let himself be amused for a second before realizing she was asking him.

“Seventeen,” he answered. Did him and Reggie look that young? Flynn looked at him with raised brows, tippy-toeing to get closer to his face. He nervously leaned back, not sure what the Lady was looking for.

“And they gave you this position?”

Princess Julie walked up and guided Flynn towards the door by the shoulders. “Time to go now, Lady Flynn.”

“We were talking!” Flynn complained but before Luke knew it, she was out the door and Princess Julie shut it closed, only nips of cold air managing to slip in. She put her hands in her pockets and walked past Luke, leaving him to play catchup without acknowledging that he was there. He didn’t know why it made him glum when he was just there for a job.

* * *

Luke and Reggie switched off sleeping on the marbled floor a couple hours each as soon as Princess Julie had gone to bed. It was at seven in the morning that a housemaid ran to them, out of breath, and apologized for not showing them where their room was. Reggie couldn’t call them cheap anymore.

Luke’s back and neck ached, but he was thankful that it was only for one night. He let Reggie “test out” his bed after they brushed their teeth for the first time in an entire day, and he stood guard in the hall. He hoped they would have coffee at breakfast, but he remembered the Princess didn’t go out much so he couldn’t possibly need it so badly. At the academy you only got coffee privileges if you marked in the top five for the week. He could probably nap standing up in the hallway, waking up when her room door hit his back. But he didn’t want to risk it. If he could stay awake for over 70 hours during training, he could probably manage with the few hours he got.

He didn’t know what time the siblings went to breakfast, but at 8:30, Reggie was scolding Luke for letting him sleep in for so long. “Relax, dude,” Luke told him, pointing at Prince Carlos’ shut door. “He’s still asleep.”

“I thought the royal family is up by 6:30 and goes to bed by 9 or something.”

“I think they like to party a little,” Luke said. The entire kingdom was full of towns that celebrated any little thing. At the knight academy, they once threw a party because they all got new undergarments.

It wasn’t until 9AM sharp that the Prince and Princess walked out of their rooms at the same time and walked down the hall to their dining room, Prince Carlos loudly telling her about his dream from the night before. She seemed very attentive to him, and it made Luke smile, knowing the fiery girl could be so loving.

* * *

While Reggie and the Prince were out having an adventure, Luke stood quietly in the hallway. He had a few messages that he answered and then deleted before returning to his blank staring. He had to find a hobby to keep him entertained in the hallway because he was already losing his strings of sanity. He regretted leaving his guitar at the knight academy barracks. He thought he’d be back sooner.

The door opening took him by surprise, and when he turned to look, the Princess was looking at him. She looked disappointed to see him, but he felt a little better knowing his existence was being acknowledged. She looked like she was going to say something, but she didn’t, walking away.

Luke followed her out the castle, past the gates where he was greeted by a few familiar faces from the knight academy, and down a stone road leading to the town square. There was more guards out than usual, mostly all of them new placements fresh from the academy. He recognized every single one he passed, and he politely nodded at them as they bowed their heads for the Princess walking by.

She said hello to a few towns folk who were walking by, and they smiled when seeing her. Luke couldn’t see her face, but he knew she was smiling back at them. He didn’t think it was an act she was putting on, but he figured it was hard for her to smile at all.

He didn’t recognize most of the town as they left the square- even with the academy’s occasional trip to the castle. The academy was in the next town over, and this town of Montserrat seemed to be a place for the well-off people of the kingdom. Not exactly rich, but they didn’t struggle. The rich people, Flynn he assumed, lived in their own gated neighborhood a little way out of town. Not too far from the castle. Him and Reggie had a friend that lived there.

Not knowing where they were going, Luke was a little put off by realizing they were soon at the cemetery gates. It made him feel tense knowing the Princess could start to cry at any moment, and he’d just have to stand there and watch her. What else could he do?

He tapped his fingers on his legs in a rhythm to distract himself, as she walked in. They passed many graves, some ancient and falling apart with their scripts barely legible and others brand new with flowers freshly cut by their loved ones. There was a gated corner of the cemetery that Princess Julie stood in front of. It wasn’t very large, but it had mostly statues unlike the other graves in the cemetery. Luke looked closely at the top of the gates and read the words Royal Cemetery. There was a single crow perched there.

Princess Julie turned to Luke and said, “Can you wait here? I’m just going to see my mom.” Luke nodded and she walked in, not very far from his sight. He felt discourteous looking at her, so he turned away and looked around at the empty graveyard. The skies were blue, but giant clouds loomed the threat of rain over their heads.

A while went by and the Princess hadn’t left her place. Luke turned around and realized he couldn’t see her anymore. He walked past the open gate to find her. “Princess?” he called out. He hoped she wouldn’t scold him for interrupting whatever she had going on.

He walked all the way to Queen Rose’s grave before realizing she was gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe


	6. Times Are Tough

Julie had quietly crawled through a hole cut in the graveyard fence and ran through the forest, hoping Luke didn’t catch on. Every sound her footsteps made as they crushed leaves below her made her clench her fist harder, the birds in the trees letting each other know of her presence in their usually serene home. Julie ran until her ribs hurt, stopping to rest at a tree. She didn’t know how much longer until Luke realized, so she kept walking despite the voice in her head who told her to turn around.

There was a way back to the castle gardens from the woods, and she intended to get there by herself. If she could get through this without harm and convince her dad that Luke was a bad guard, maybe he’d grant her independence once more. She was more than strong enough on her own.

Julie stopped at a clearing in the woods to stand on the cliffside overlooking the lush neighboring kingdom of Plowden. Plowden was always on par with their kingdom, and she didn’t mind when they came over for visits. Prince William and her were good friends, and she looked up to him.

Their actual cities were still far away from their border as Plowden had a pledge to protect the natural land and only alter it when necessary. She couldn’t say the same thing about other kingdoms.

Her head turned when she heard a loud whirling noise in the distance. She looked up and saw the royal helicopter going up in the air, flashing the emergency signal. Her heart went to her throat as she started running back into the woods and to the castle grounds. She shouldn’t have worn flats if she was planning on running away in the first place.

She knew the helicopter was for her. They had done this for Carlos once before when he hadn’t returned from the woods past his curfew, and her dad was losing his mind. She was with her dad the entire time, and he didn’t breathe correctly until Carlos was back in the castle. Carlos had fallen asleep in a tree.

She wondered how fast Luke had gotten back to the castle to alert them. There was no way he could’ve made it back to the castle that fast and gotten a helicopter up in the air in the amount time she had been gone. It seemed impossible to her, but she had to remember that he had a phone.

The castle garden was in her view, and she felt like she had blood lodged in her throat from all the running. She ran past the hedges and saw a few guards yelling in nervous voices. She crouched down, keeping an eye on them before watching them run to a different part of the grounds. She got back up and made it to the screen door of the castle sunroom and ran in, shutting the door with a bang and falling back onto a chair to collect herself. She fixed her hair and pulled it back in a low pony, laying down to look up at the sky through the glass ceiling. The helicopter was farther from the castle now, but it was still making the glass vibrate.

She had to let them know she was back soon before her dad had a heart attack because of her. He had enough to worry about, and she didn’t even know where that list started. She got up and left the sunroom, making her way down the halls. There were no staff members out greeting her, and there was this silence in the castle that was unnatural. The workers had a small community, and they were always filling the castle with life no matter how difficult things got.

She peaked into the kitchen and saw that it was empty, everything thrown around like they were all poofed away in the middle of doing things. She thought it was strange that the workers would leave their stations behind to go look for her. She kept walking on her own, not finding anyone and made her way to her dad’s office that had two guards posted outside. They looked surprised to see her, but they let her go in without a word.

When she made it inside, her dad glanced up from his laptop on his desk and said, “Hi, angel,” before glancing back down. She was taken aback with his dull reaction. He looked stressed out with his wrinkled forehead and frown lines popping through. Then he looked back up and raised an eyebrow, “Where’s Sir Luke?”

Julie came to the realization that the helicopter wasn’t for her, and that she wasn’t even prepared to have this _I can take care of myself_ conversation with her dad. “What’s the helicopter for?” she asked

“Our favorite prisoner got away but they told me two minutes ago that they got him.” He shut his laptop and crossed his arms, studying her face. She looked down at the floor, noticing there was a leaf stuck on the corner of her shoes. “Julie.” In that moment, his phone rang and as she turned around, he said, “Stay.” Julie sighed in defeat and decided to sit at one of the chairs, the sound of the helicopter outside drawing closer to park on the castle roof. She tried to focus on it as her dad talked with who sounded like Bobby. “Alright,” he said. “Assure him he’s not in trouble and to come back to the castle immediately. We’ll talk about the rest when you get back.” Julie wondered what _the rest_ was. Her dad had never hidden so much from her before.

“So,” Julie flashed an unconfident smile. “Since Luke-,”

“Sir Luke.”

“Sir Luke is such a bad royal knight, can I be on my own again.” She didn’t know if her dad looked frustrated or amused at her feeble attempt of shaking the knight off. Now that she processed it, it wasn’t her best plan. She did feel some comfort with the thought that maybe if the prisoner had decided to escape in a later time, her planned would’ve worked. Her dad was too scrambled to truly focus on being a dad.

The King rubbed his face and sighed. “Julie, even if he was the worst knight to come out of the academy, we would just assign you a different knight. Which is what we’re going to do on his days off anyway. You have to get used to it, mija. Times are tough right now.”

“Can you at least tell me why? You haven’t told me anything. All I know King Caleb sent that man to harm us. I think I deserve to know more, especially if something happens to you.” Julie didn’t like thinking about living her life without both of her parents so young, but it was always something she was taught to remember during her training and education. She was born to outlive her father and take the throne one day. Someone out there, wanted to make it sooner than later or they didn’t want her to take the throne at all.

“I can’t right now, Julie,” he said, a frown as deep as the ocean on his face. His ice blue eyes seemed to be melting into tears, but he took in a deep breath and blinked a few times. “Please go back to your room and don’t run from Sir Luke again. I can’t imagine how horrible things could’ve gone if the man would’ve seen you without your guard.”

It was a sick game her and her father were playing. _Who is actually going to outlive who: daddy daughter edition_. But that’s just how it was when your dad was king, and you were almost positive you were about to live through a war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah it's been 3 weeks since I last updated. I started school Jan 4, and I got some writer's block unfortunately. I've been asked to read a lot of novels for my assignments, so I think that helped me get out of my rut. Here's to hoping I'm back to updating sooner :)


	7. Sun and Shadow

“You’re out of your mind,” Flynn told Julie. She had told her about her little escape plan that was more impulsive than genius. “Obviously, that wouldn’t work. If you really wanted to get rid of him, the only way is to have him sacrifice his life for you.” Julie flinched at the idea of there being a blood bath in their kingdom. Flynn had no idea how probable it was, and she was mentioning death so lightly. Julie didn’t know the stakes either if she was honest with herself.

“I think you’re the one that’s out of your mind now,” Julie sighed. They were both sitting out on the balcony, watching the skies turn pink as the sun went down. No birds to take note of.

Julie hadn’t left her room since the day before, so she hadn’t seen Luke at all. Even though she felt angry knowing that he was there, she was starting to feel guilt creep up her throat for the way she treated him. It was all her initial frustration melting away, uncovering both understanding and fear. She shoved it to the back of her mind for later.

“Wouldn’t they just assign you a different guard anyways?” Flynn asked her. Julie was tired of hearing that. Her dad, Carlos, and even a maid had told her that, and yes, they would’ve just done that. But maybe, in a different universe, her planned worked and she got back her independence that didn’t make her question her every break down and move.

Julie ignored Flynn’s question and told her, in a low voice as if Luke was standing right behind them, “Sometimes I feel like… he’s just there to observe me.” She hadn’t been with him that long, not even the full week yet. But on the walk to the cemetery, his gaze felt like a wheelbarrow of cement. It made her feel stuck.

Flynn looked at her the same way she looked at her when she suggested taking a plane to the United States for her birthday. “What? Isn’t that his job?”

“No. Well,” she shrugged. “Yes? The point is, I feel like he’s telling my dad my every move and the other knight is doing the same with Carlos.”

“Sir Reggie?”

Julie raised an eyebrow at the nickname. “Reggie?”

“He told me to call him that. He’s really cool. He knows how to make cranes out of aluminum foil.” They stared blankly at each other for a moment before Flynn waved her hand, “Go on about your knight.”

“That’s all I have.”

“You haven’t even been around him that much to know what he’s really like. Maybe he’s not as attentive as you think.”

“That strangely does not make me feel better.” Safer would be a better word.

“I think there’s a real reason why you don’t want him with you, but even you don’t know it yet. What would your mom say about things like that? A gut feeling?” _A presentimiento._ It translated straight to feeling. But when her mom said it with her hand over her heart and looking up at the clouds for a sign of movement, it was ghostly and spiritual. Julie felt like her mom was able to predict the future. It’s why she knew she was going to die.

“Yeah,” Julie played with her mom’s ruby ring on her finger. “Maybe that’s it.”

* * *

Flynn left before four in the afternoon, and she left Julie soaking in her silence. She still wasn’t used to living in a quiet shell of who she used to be, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to stay in it much longer. She tapped her fingers on the balcony edge in a pattern that was reminiscent of playing the piano. She looked out, begging for the universe to place a chirping bird in her view. But the skies were cleared out. She would have to bring in the music herself.

Julie took a deep breath, confirming to herself that she was going to go play music for the first time since her mom died. As she took steps away from the balcony and into her room, she tried thinking what was pushing her feet. Maybe it was the thought that she could also die, too. War was war. Maybe, it was the one thing that truly made her feel free and she never realized she had been locked up long before Luke even got there.

She walked into the hall, Luke surprised to see her. He broke eye contact and looked at the walls as she closed her door shut. She forced her feet to stand in front of him, getting his attention once again. She realized then how much taller he was than her in that moment. She had to slightly tilt her chin up to be able to face him. “I’m sorry for leaving you at the cemetery,” Julie told him. Luke’s eyes were wide open, his mouth open but empty of words. This time, she was the one that broke eye contact.

“It’s alright, Princess,” he finally said, bowing his head. When he looked up again, the hard look he carried on his face was softening up. Julie noted the cut he had on his face when he first got hired was almost healed. She nodded at him and started walking down the hall, to the music room. Her steps were loud in her head, but it could have been the pounding of her heart.

“Do you know how to ride a horse?” she asked as she stood in front of the door at the end of the hall. There was a window there, sunshine pouring in to light up her skin. Luke was one step away from being engulfed by the sun, but he stood in the shadowed carpet, soft spoken.

“Yes, Princess.” Julie turned the handle and pushed the door open.

“Good to know.” She walked in, leaving the door open. The room was sunny, the large windows making it look ethereal. “You can come in.” She didn’t know why she asked him to do that, but a part of her knew it was because she couldn’t be in that room alone yet.

Luke walked in behind her as she approached the piano. It wasn’t dusty and all the plants in the room were alive in well, showing that the maids hadn’t given up on the essence of the room. Julie looked around, seeing her mom everywhere and especially on the piano bench in front of her. She touched the keys as if they would shatter by touch, wondering if her mom’s fingerprints were still smudged there and if she played, it would feel like holding her hand again. She took a deep breath and found a song on top of the piano. Her mom gave it to her for her last birthday she was able to celebrate with her. Julie had never played it, but she sat down.

A guitar string note played, and Julie snapped her head back to see a terrified Luke with his hands in the air. She couldn’t help but laugh, and she turned away from him to hide the fact that he broke her wall down in one note. “You can play the guitar out in the balcony if you want. Or you can sit there on your phone. It’s peaceful.” She didn’t see him until he walked up past her and to the outside where he shut the glass, her mom’s old guitar in one hand.

Julie picked up the song and spread out the sheets, staring at her mom’s handwriting. She hadn’t cried in a few days, and although everything seemed to be falling apart, she felt as light as a feather in her mom’s company. She smiled, and she started to play.

**Here's one thing I want you to know**

**You got someplace to go**

**Life's a test, yes, but you go toe-to-toe**

**You don't give up, no, you grow**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally had a nice moment!! I planned out over 20 chapters of this fic the other day, and I'm so excited to write them. I haven't planned out the final chapters yet either. The chapters are much shorter than what I like to do, but it lets me update more with less pressure and trade off between Luke and Julie's POV. Thank you for your kudos if you've left any <3


	8. To Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Montseratt is the town right outside the castle with the town square, and Knight's Crest is the town over where the Knight Academy the boys went to is at.

Luke was standing guard in the dim hall, trying to remember every note Princess Julie had played hours before. He was still in a state of dreaming, pressing his fingers together from the ache of playing a guitar for the first time in a while.

And her smile.

He had to take a deep breath every time he remembered it, like it was a baseball bat to the heart. For the first time, he had met _the_ Princess Julie everyone had placed on a well-deserved pedestal. And after two hours of playing music and singing, Princess Julie went back into her room, giving him a small smile before shutting the door. She was otherworldly.

Luke heard the door to his and Reggie’s shared room down the hall, and Reggie came stumbling out, crashing into the wall and pushing himself off. He was half-asleep but the hit seemed to wake him up completely. Luke chuckled to himself as Reggie walked over to him, still yawning. “2AM, dude. Ready to sleep?” Reggie asked him.

“I’m honestly not that tired yet,” Luke admitted to him. Reggie leaned against the wall across him, putting his hands in his suit pockets. His tie wasn’t tied yet, and Luke noticed that the buttons weren’t lined up correctly. Reggie had a habit of dressing in the dark, and they always made him run extra laps at the academy when his shirts were inside out. It wasn’t a habit that was meant to die out.

“I was tired,” Reggie said, crossing his arms. “Played soccer with the Prince and his friends again. Every day I get beat by ten year olds.”

Luke couldn’t keep it inside anymore. “I played music with the Princess today. Sort of. I was on the balcony, but we played at the same time.” Reggie raised an eyebrow as if he were still dreaming.

“Really? Doesn’t she hate you.”

“Not anymore.” She did apologize. “I think.” Luke ran his hands through his hair and let out a sigh. “I don’t know.” A part of him was scared that is was a one-time thing. An apology act. “She did tell me she was sorry. I like to think the Princess is one to keep her word.”

“You never told me what happened after she ran away from you.” Luke called Reggie right away and all Reggie could tell him was _I don’t know what to tell you, man._ He just made Luke freak out even more.

“I didn’t get in trouble. The entire kingdom was occupied with the man on the run, and the King told her to get over it or something like that. I got lucky somehow.”

“You did get lucky. I had to take the Prince to a safe house. I had like thirty calls about making sure he was safe somewhere. I can’t imagine you would’ve been able to get her to follow you somewhere.”

Luke scratched his arm. “I just didn’t answer any of those calls. I was running everywhere trying to find her and then I saw the helicopters and I was thinking, ‘Oh god do they know she’s missing already?’ Then I ran into Brandy from the academy and she told me what happened, and I went straight to the castle. I got a call from the King when I was at the doors, and he told me he knew what happened and not to worry about it. Said something about there’s bigger battles to fight.”

“I think the King was venting to you, dude.” Luke laughed; Reggie’s comments always lifted his mood even when unintentional. “Lucky. I’ve been trying to be his friend, but he seems busy.”

“He is ruling a kingdom.”

Reggie touched his collar and realized his buttons were mismatched and started to redo them. “So,” Reggie asked. “Is she good?”

Luke smiled. “She has the voice of an angel.” 

“Maybe she’d like going to the club.” Every weekend, Luke and Reggie would go to this club house hidden down in the corners of the castle town, Montseratt. It wasn’t illegal or anything, but it wasn’t an advertised space. It was once a bar and was now just a place to hang out and play music or create art. You only knew about it when you were a certain age through word of the mouth and once you hit a certain age, you didn’t go anymore out of respect for the younger generations.

“Oh yeah,” Luke scoffed. “The Princess at the club. The King would kill me himself.”

“Maybe he’d thank you for getting her out of the house.”

“Calling this a house is an understatement. Either way, they’re not supposed to be up and down. There is a call to war.”

“You think it’s actually going to happen?” Reggie asked him. Reggie was always more optimistic than anyone Luke knew, and he was ready to throw himself headfirst into anything to protect his friends. That’s why they knew he’d be a great royal knight. He’d live by his oath.

Luke felt the weight of the thin silver chain under his clothes, and he reached up to pull it out and grapple it with a tight fist, adjusting it and rubbing against the sudden itch. He always forgot it was there. “I do.”

“Our friends will be fighting that war,” Reggie reminded him. “While we hide inside the castle.” Everyone from the academy and the people that graduated before would be sent. Their kingdom’s military wasn’t stronger than King Caleb’s kingdom, but they had a lot more allies who were just as strong or stronger. It was going to get bloody fast.

“We took an oath to protect them. We’re also doing our jobs.” Reggie gave him a weak smile and nodded, but Luke knew he wasn’t convinced. “I’m going to head to bed now. See you at 8.”

* * *

On Sunday morning, Reggie was already gone when Luke woke up. He didn’t realize how tired he was until he was able to sleep through an entire knight without a shift change.

It had been a few days since him and Princess Julie had first played music, but she hadn’t left her room for anything except for dinner or to walk Lady Flynn out. It disappointed him, but he had felt a lot more peace knowing they were on good terms.

Luke got ready for the day, and he felt weird dressing in his civilian clothes for the first time in a while. He put his leather jacket over his shirt before walking out, his phone clutched tightly in his hand. He looked down the hall before leaving to catch an peak of the Sunday guards, but he didn’t recognize them. They were older knights who graduated long before him and Reggie. The _they’re boys_ comment seemed to be making more sense now.

He felt strange walking out of the castle’s front door like if it was his house. Technically, he did live there but he would never get used to its aquamarine splendor. He went outside and let the cold air nibble at his cheeks as he made his way past the gates and into town. He said goodbye to the gardener and didn’t look back. Knowing where he was staying left him with a sense of dread that didn’t seem realistic at one point.

Nobody looked at him since he wasn’t with the Princess, and he kind of missed the attention. He wasn’t shy to admit he liked having eyes on him. He wasn’t really supposed to attract an audience of course, but he indulged in it when he could.

He made his way to the bus stop at the edge of town and waited for a few minutes before a bus to Knight’s Crest got there. He had taken it many times with Reggie and other students to go to the club there in Montseratt, and it was one of the few things he had memorized there. He paid his fare and sat down, looking out the window as the bus started taking him back to his original home.

The Knight Academy looked the same, and Luke felt silly for thinking it would change so much in two weeks. There was one difference, and it was that it was packed with new students. He wondered what the recruiters were telling them to encourage them to join. He felt an urge to warn the group of fifteen year old’s he saw playing catch together about the war, but he wasn’t looking for trouble with his previous superiors.

Reggie and Luke weren’t granted a ceremony. It was one morning that Bobby came up to Luke and Reggie while they were on the monkey bars and said, “It’s time to move up.” And he gave them graduation certificates, shoved them in a car with a suitcase someone else packed of their stuff, and he rode with them to the castle while telling them they were going to be royal knights.

You didn’t graduate until you were twenty or deemed ready. In their case, someone turned the oven up in hopes that the cake would be baked faster. Luke knew that the day was coming like he knew the days would all turn into nights. Bobby was always supervising him and reminding him to watch himself and when his classmates would ask Luke what Bobby’s problem with him was, Luke would lie and say he once played a prank on him. It killed him to lie, but he got used to numbing out like his fingers after a 4AM run in the winter. Years were going by, and he was starting to repress unwanted memories. Specifically, memories that told him the truth.

Luke walked past the front doors and into the living area, a few of the younger knights jumping up when they recognized him. Everyone that was sixteen and up seemed to be gone. Reggie told him they had a rushed graduation ceremony, and they were shipped out to different areas of the kingdom. He had seen Brandy and a few other people in Montseratt to confirm the story. Seeing the academy emptied out so fast was the change he knew was going to come, and it sent chills down his spine.

“Hey, guys,” Luke told him as he was surrounded by a trio of boys. They had all gotten there at different times and became friends so fast. They were called the triplets even when they looked nothing alike. “I came for the rest of my stuff.”

“It’s in my locker,” one of the boys named Alejo said. “They were going to throw them out, but it’s not your fault you didn’t get to pack.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out his keys, “10B.” Luke grabbed them and thanked him, walking past them to the locker room.

It was a mess in there, but he ignored it and walked over it to get to the locker. He opened it and found his guitar safe in its guitar case, as well as a small bag closed with a small trophy from a tournament and a couple of guitar picks and a polaroid of him, Reggie, and his friend Alex. He didn’t have a lot of things, but he was glad Alejo found them precious enough to save. He closed the locker, and he jumped back in fear, hitting his back on the locker when he turned around and saw Bobby staring at him.

He was standing there with a toothpick in his mouth, smirking at the fact that he had rattled him. “I thought it was you,” Bobby said. “Just came to tell you that you’re doing a good job.”

Luke straightened himself out and tried to clear his throat as quietly as possible. “Thank you, Sir.” Bobby nodded and walked out of the locker room, leaving Luke to kick a nearby locker in a storm of frustration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very proud of this chapter's title for personal reasons that I know because I have this story outlined. I think this is my longest chapter, but I could be wrong. I really enjoy Luke's point of view. He knows more while Julie is left in the dark, so it let's me stress certain things better but that will change in a few chapters.   
> And FYI in the next chapter, we'll FINALLY have Alex :3 Thank you for reading!! Let me know what y'all think :)


	9. Letting the Guards Get Down

Luke got to the club past nine after running a few errands and missing a bus. Reggie was already there, standing on a table and telling a story to a small crowd of people. He put his guitar and bag in a corner and started looking around. He smiled when he saw a certain blond with a jean jacket, and he rushed over to jump on his back.

“Luke!” Alex yelled happily, spinning him around before dropping him down. He looked at his face and squished Luke’s nose between his thumb and index finger. “You look tired, man.”

“Rude,” Luke laughed, pulling back. He looked around, seeing as Alex always equaled his boyfriend. “Where’s Willie?”

“Not here this week. His parents wanted him to stay this weekend,” Alex said. His face got more serious and he lowered his voice. “You know. With everything going on.” Alex’s mom was one of the King’s advisors. Although not one of the main ones, she knew enough to relay information to Alex.

“Yeah,” Luke tapped his fingers on his own arm. “The castle is pretty tense right now, too.”

“I can imagine,” Alex said. “How are you doing?” Luke didn’t know. He looked at Alex with a solemn smile and shrugged. “It’s okay,” Alex assured him. “I’m sure you’re doing great.”

“I mean the Princess did try to get me fired a few times, but she’s cool with me now so I guess it’s only getting better.” 

“Reggie told me,” Alex said, pointing at their black-haired friend who was still talking about some random training day at the academy. If someone liked the spotlight more than Luke, it was Reggie who always had ten people at once listening to him.

“Telling my stories for me like always,” Luke smiled.

“Oh yeah. He got a couple of laughs out of your bad tan story.” Luke touched his shoulder.

“It still hasn’t evened out.”

“They don’t have a pool at the castle?”

“You think I swim all day,” Luke chuckled. “It’s mostly standing. I’m not allowed to let my phone get below 50% just in case something happens.”

“It’s just you and your thoughts?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked fearful of the idea of having to stand alone in a hall with nothing but yourself.

“Yes,” Luke shrugged. “It’s not that bad, honest.”

“Seems boring and like the perfect job that Bobby would want to give to you, so you lose your mind.” Luke clenched his jaw as he remembered the encounter in the locker rooms.

“Then Reggie didn’t deserve this job.”

“He doesn’t deserve to chase kids around all day?”

“I think he’s going to be scared of kids after this.”

“You guys should come over to my place on your next day off. Even out your tan.”

“Prepare for next Sunday.”

“Bring the Princess.”

“Want me to get executed?”

“They’d take you to foreign land to do it at least.”

“It’d be my first vacation.”

“And last.” Alex and Luke kept talking and moved over to a couch in the corner of the club, and it took a while before Reggie walked over, excited when he realized Luke was there with Alex.

He squeezed in between them and put his arms around them both. “Look at us three. Back together.” He flashed his shark teeth grin, Luke and Alex smiling back.

“You guys are abandoning me all week,” Alex said, tugging at Reggie’s ear. “You guys would never leave me alone and now I barely get a text back.”

“Since when do you have three boyfriends?” Luke asked him, laughing.

“Well, I never got my poster board and flowers, but I’ll take that as my official yes.”

Reggie hit Alex’s hand away from his ear, Alex hitting him back. “I bring you flowers all the time,” he pointed at a wilted dandelion taped to the ceiling, “see.” The three of them looked up.

Luke asked, “How did that happen again?”

“You carried Alex and Alex carried me so I could reach the ceiling,” Reggie explained to him. He chuckled, pointing at Luke’s nose. “We got you drunk for your knight academy initiation, and you were doing everything we told you.” Luke rubbed his face in embarrassment, the boys never letting go of that night. Alex was in the academy at the moment, but he had quit when he stood up to his parents to let him quit. They probably were relieved about that now.

“We were so little,” Alex reminisced. “Who gave us alcohol?”

“The older kids,” Luke said, a scowl coming onto his face. “I never liked them.”

“They were just jealous of us,” Reggie told him. He stood up and pointed at the stage in the back of the club, microphone stands begging to be used under the new installed lighting. “Come on.” He held out his hands to Alex and Luke. “Let’s play.” They smiled and got up to join him.

A crowd gathered in front of them immediately as soon as Alex got behind the drums and started playing a beat. Luke looked out and waved at a few people he hadn’t seen in a while, noticing the crowd was missing a lot of regulars from the academy. They must’ve been tired or stationed far if they didn’t drop by on a Sunday at least.

“Hey, everyone,” Luke spoke close into the mic. The crowd let out a roar, phones going up to record. “It’s been a while. Here’s a little something called Now or Never.”

**Take off**

**Last stop**

**Countdown till we blast open the top**

**Face first**

**Full charge**

**Electric hammer to the heart**

* * *

Luke yawned outside the Princess’ door. Reggie was out probably sleeping on a baseball field now that the Prince decided to switch sports. They didn’t get to the castle until three in the morning, Alex dropping them off with a big chuckle as they realized the time. Luke forgot what it was like to be surrounded by people who gave off a lot of energy. It filled him with light.

He heard footsteps coming down the hall but instead of the regular walking, it was full on running. It was Flynn, practically flinging her arms like a bird to get to him, sliding her shoes the final inches to get to him. Luke backed up against the wall, a phone in his face.

He heard himself singing, along with Reggie and Alex on background vocals. He stood up straight, grabbing the phone from Flynn who had a huge grin on her face. “Is this you or do you and Reggie have twins we don’t know about?”

“No.” Luke’s mouth fell open, closing the full screen to look at the views. 10,328.

“No?” Flynn sounded confused.

“No, it’s me,” Luke said to her, his heart starting to race. They had been posted on Instagram and other places before but never YouTube. 100 people watching their stories was one thing but a video with 10,328 views? It felt dangerous, and he knew that video couldn’t last up for much longer. “Do you know who posted this?” Flynn looked down at her screen.

“Do you know a fortnitebro435?”

Luke rubbed his hands on his face, feeling small beads of sweat rub off. “No. I do not.”

“Then I can’t tell you.” Luke saw Flynn studying his face, her smiling turning into a curious stare. “Want me to find out who it is?” Luke didn’t know if this was even something to be concerned about, but he tried to remember every rule he was ever told.

“No,” he shook his head. He didn’t realize how out of breath he was. “It’s okay.”

“Okay,” Flynn put her phone away then pointed at the Princess’ door. “I’m going to go in okay?” Luke nodded and watched her go into the room and shut the door behind her. Luke ran his hands through his hair and pulled out his phone.

**Luke: There is a video of me online with 10k views.**

**Bobby: I’m taking care of it. Watch yourself. You were doing so well.**

**Luke: Yes, sir.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not very happy with this chapter, but I wanted to get it out. I'm more excited about the next chapter with a lot more Juke :3 See you soon and Happy Valentine's Day!


	10. Eye Contact

Julie’s jaw dropped when she saw the video. She knew Luke played the guitar, but she didn’t know he played it _that_ well and that he sang, too. She didn’t know Reggie played the bass and that Lady Ann Mercer’s son was friends with them. Flynn already kept pushing on the fact that Julie was warming up to her royal guard, so she tried to act like the song was mediocre at best and Flynn stopped pushing it.

But once Flynn left, Julie drove herself crazy trying to find the video. She memorized the title of it, but she couldn’t find it no matter how hard she tried, and she slammed her laptop shut, sighing. She didn’t know where in town that was, but it would explain why Luke looked exhausted when he walked her to breakfast. She didn’t realize she was shaking her foot up and down until she made it stop.

She inhaled and then exhaled before she walked towards her door. She stopped in front of it, shaking out her hand. She didn’t know why she was getting so nervous. She pulled her hair back before opening her door. Luke immediately straightened his back out and blinked very fast, trying to hide a yawn behind blown up lips. He started walking down the hall, Julie watching him until he turned back and realized she wasn’t walking with him.

“Is it not lunch yet?” Luke asked, checking his watch. His cheeks turned red, realizing lunch was two hours away. It made Julie want to laugh, but she held it down.

“Long night?” Julie asked him. Luke pursed his lips, staying quiet. “Flynn showed me the video.” The words were lodged in her throat. Like it was too early since they made up. “You’re amazing.” Luke’s face broke into a smile, and he looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck. Julie liked his smile. “Can you take me to the place in the video?” The smile was gone.

“What?” His eyes were wide, and he almost seemed terrified that she was asking. “No. Your dad will throw me off a cliff. If not him, Bobby will.”

“You’re impossible to fire,” Julie said. “I’ve tried.” Luke’s corner lip tugged into a smile, but he forced it back down.

“No. I’m sorry, Princess Julie.” He looked at the wall, pretending to be focused on a landscape painting, away from her eyes. Julie realized he was afraid to look her in the eye. She couldn’t blame him.

“My dad won’t get mad.” He would, but Luke didn’t need to know that, and her dad didn’t need to find out.

“Princess-”

“Please. Won’t I be safe as long as I’m with you?” she asked him. There was nothing in truth in that question. He was supposedly the best of the best and in part, she was scared and trusted Luke to look after her if things happened to go south. She was used to him now. Luke looked up at her with big eyes, much softer now.

He sighed, twisting side to side before looking at her and saying, “Okay.”

“Sweet. Let’s go birdwatching.” Luke looked thrown off by her sudden request, and it took a few seconds before Julie heard him walking behind her.

* * *

The woods were bright that day. It was a complete contrast to the castle. It seemed like the maids forgot to open the curtains, but it was just the energy in the castle. Like they were pretending to do other things that were more important. She wondered if there was a go-bag for her somewhere in the castle, ready for her to abandon her people if the kingdom reached a major crisis.

Julie looked around for her binoculars she hid in a bush at the wood’s entrance. Luke seemed surprised when she took them out, and she smiled at him. He once again looked away from her, blinding himself with a streak of sun breaking through.

“They’re quiet today,” Julie told him. She always found herself sweating before talking to him but once she was with him, she wanted to spill out every word of everything she was doing. She let out a whistle, and he looked at her again like she pulled down a star. “You don’t whistle?” Luke let out long, single note whistle and then smirked. The birds sang back, and Julie looked around. They chose him over her for a moment. She smiled and took off her shoes, walking quietly with them in one hand and the binoculars in another.

After a few moments, she noticed she couldn’t hear Luke. She turned around and found him walking behind her on his tiptoes, his shoes also in hands. She turned around before they could make eye contact. Maybe she was scared of it, too. Not a very good habit for a diplomat.

She looked around with her binoculars and found herself pointing at a redheaded woodpecker, looking at Luke to make sure he was saw it. He nodded and smiled, looking up. She walked closer to him to hand him her binoculars, and he took a step back because of her sudden movement. “I don’t bite,” she told him, handing him the binoculars. He nodded and looked through them, the woodpecker making itself a new home.

Luke tapped her on the shoulder which took her by surprise, and he looked afraid when she looked back at him with broad eyes. His finger was pointing in a different direction, and he had it half lowered from her reaction. She looked closer and saw a different woodpecker perched on a branch. “You’re a natural at this already,” she whispered to him. The birds flew off despite her attempted quietness, but she didn’t mind. There was a skip in her walk as she continued walking.

She wondered what Luke was thinking. That he trained for a battle to the death, and he was bird watching with the Princess he swore to die for. She wondered when he made that oath. She wasn’t there for when he got knighted. They didn’t make a big deal out of the royal knight ceremony like they did for Bobby many years back. She wondered if it was to keep war talk out of people’s mouths for as long as possible. Either way, it had been visibly passed on to the castle workers and would soon go onto everyone else.

“Sir Luke,” she turned to look at him. He looked at her with ready eyes. She whispered even if it was just them two alone in the woods. “Do you know if there’s any news regarding the war.”

He shook his head. “I haven’t been kept in the loop as much since I started guarding you.” She thought it was strange. He should be one of the people who knows the most. Then again, her dad didn’t want her to know a lot, and he knew how persuasive she could be. Only her parents knew how to tell her no. And Flynn on occasions. Her dad knew Luke wouldn’t know how to so fast, and Luke didn’t look like a liar.

“I see.”

“Can I ask,” Luke said abruptly. Julie raised an eyebrow, Luke folding his hands together and looking through the trees. “Why you didn’t want me around so bad?” Julie’s heart sank. Had she really hurt his feelings?

“I’m sorry,” she started off. “It wasn’t you. It was the idea of having a guard. I think it just meant my dad was actually scared of something, and I didn’t know what was going on. I’m still being left in the dark after I’ve known everything my whole life. I took that fear out on you. I’m really sorry.” Luke looked her in the eye and gave her half a smile. It was honest and healing, her mistakes always forgiven.

“It’s alright. I just wanted to know.” Julie pressed her lips close together and studied his face. He met her eyes for a few seconds and hastily looked away. She wondered when he’d stop being intimidated by her. Was she that hard to look at? And he? He was very interesting to her. His words and the way he annunciated things.

“Do you have an accent?” she asked. It sounded familiar. Like she grew up hearing it somewhere.

“No,” he said hastily, crossing his arms. “I get asked, that um, a lot. But no. I’m from here. I mean. Maybe? Maybe just my hometown lingo.” He was usually so collected. It strange seeing him fall apart so fast over one question. Maybe it was an insecurity of his.

“Where are you from?” she asked. He turned his whole body away from her and walked over to a plant, crouching down to pretend to study it.

“Silvone.” Julie tried to remember Silvone and where it was on the map of her kingdom she had studied almost everyday for years. It was the furthest away from the castle, off on its own and dedicated to mining. Not a lot of knights came in from Silvone. Maybe it ostracized him from the rest of the academy to be so different.

“Were your parents’ miners?” she asked him. He stayed quiet for a second.

“My dad is. My mom’s a teacher. A great one.”

“What made you come here?” Another pause.

“Necessity.” She didn’t ask any further.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An early morning update? Who could've guessed I had it in me. I went nuts and chapters 10-12 are finished. Will probably upload one every 3-5 days just so that I have content, depending on how writing the rest of the chapters go. I'm in a really good groove right now :) Also let me know in the comments or just drop some kudos if you're still reading here! I have a good audience on Wattpad, but Ao3 is practically my hometown hehe. Lots of love!


	11. New Places

Julie got dressed a few hours after dinner. Luke still seemed adamant about taking her, but he didn’t bring it up as if he was hoping that she’d forget about it. Julie didn’t. When the sun was completely down, and she knew Carlos was asleep, she peeked out her door and saw Reggie and Luke thumb wrestling. When she opened it, they separated and slid back to their sides of the hall.

“I know you guys mess around here,” Julie laughed at them. Reggie sheepishly chuckled, and she realized she had never had a conversation with him. She looked at Luke and said, “Are we going?” His face fell in almost horror, and it amused her.

“Reggie said no,” Luke stammered out of nowhere, pointing at the knight across from him.

“I did not, Your Highness,” Reggie crossed his arms. “If anything, I’ll go with you guys. There was this girl there, and I want to see if she’s there today.” Julie looked at Luke who was mouthing things to Reggie, his eyebrows furrowed, and Reggie mouthed back, his hands up in defense. She couldn’t read their lips from the side.

Luke looked at Julie and then turned his eyes up at the ceiling. “Princess,” he started. “We’d have nobody to guard the Prince, and if someone comes up here and see’s us missing, it’d be a big deal.” Julie then remembered that someone in the castle owed her a favor.

“Wait here,” she told them and started walking away. She could hear Luke mutter an _oh no,_ and it made her smile. She walked downstairs and peaked at the faces of a few guards and two knights who bowed to her when they saw her. She thought it was nice that Luke and Reggie didn’t do that. They probably weren’t taught to, and she wanted to keep it that way.

There was a lot more guards at the castle now that the knight academy was expediating their training that was meant to last years. And according to a certain maid, it meant that _he_ was working at the castle again. This time, with a guard uniform.

She walked to the glass door in the sunroom, stepping outside. A young blond met eyes with her and grinned. “Julie,” Nick said. She forced him to drop the title when they were kids.

“Hi, Nick” she told him, grinning wide. She forgot how warm he made her face get when he was around. “Remember you owed me a favor?” she asked him. He nodded, showing her his wrist where he still had his late father’s watch. “Well, I’m here to cash it in.”

“Like I said,” he gave a mock bow, “anything you need.”

“Follow me,” Julie said, taking his hand and leading him away. She knew it was dangerous to leave that door unprotected, but she needed it that way if she wanted to get out. She led him down the hall and into a secret passage so the other guards wouldn’t see. Nick squeezed her hand in the process. She tried to ignore the flutter in her chest, not wanting to revive the feelings she had killed more than a year ago. It took her long to do so. She didn’t squeeze it back as much as she wanted to.

“What am I doing exactly?”

“Keep watch of my brother for a bit. I’m sneaking out and taking his guard.”

“Since when are you a rebel?” Nick chuckled.

“A few hours ago.”

She let go before they got to the second floor, remembering Luke’s handsome face, anxiously risking it all against his will. She knew nothing would happen to him or Reggie if they got caught. But she needed to get out. Somewhere she hadn’t seen. It’d be like finding a new bird for the season. Not just another crow or woodpecker.

Luke was watching them closely at they approached, looking Nick up and down. “He’s your solution?” He sounded rude, but she figured it was his fear. Reggie was behind them, texting away on his phone and ready to go, changed out of his uniform already.

“Yes. This is Nick. I trust him.”

Reggie looked up from his phone and smiled. “I remember you. You were in the academy with us.”

“That would be me,” Nick grinned, giving Reggie a fist bump. Luke watched them with an eyebrow raised, almost scowling.

Julie nodded her head at Luke and asked, “Are you going in your uniform?”

He looked down and put his hand to the side of his hip where Julie assumed he was hiding a gun. “Yeah. I’ll feel better.”

“Okay then,” Julie couldn’t help but smile with her teeth. “Let’s go.” Luke looked at her with a straight face, his arms crossed, but she still felt happy. “Come on,” she waved her hand at him. A small smile broke, but he tried to hide it as he started walking ahead. Reggie went to her side, and she turned to wave at Nick. “Thank you.”

“No problems, Jules.” Luke looked back for a second, but he turned back around without comment.

Julie sped up to be in front of Luke, pointing at the secret staircase she had walked in through with Nick. She put a finger up to her lips to tell them to be quiet, and Reggie made a motion of zipping his lips. The three snuck down, walked to the sunroom, opened the glass door, and Julie started making a run through the garden. Luke and Reggie started running next to her with ease as she struggled once they got to the woods.

She stopped once they were tucked inside, leaning against a tree to catch her breath. The knights were fine, Reggie squatting down to pick up a rock. Luke looked around and raised an eyebrow at her. “There’s a way to the town through here,” she told them.

“What side of town?” Luke asked.

“Cemetery.” Luke’s eyes went wide with recognition. “Yeah. This is where I was.”

Reggie stood up and told her, “Lucky you, Princess. The club is close to the cemetery.”

“Where is it?” she asked. “I’ve never seen it.”

“You have to know the right people to get in,” Reggie said. “And you know us.” They started walking through, Julie telling them the walk would take over twenty minutes. They passed by her favorite clearing, but they only walked by it.

“So,” Luke spoke for the first time. “Nick.” There was a tinge of bitterness in the way he said his name. “He doesn’t call you by your title?” Julie looked up at him, walking in between him and Reggie.

“Doesn’t have to,” Julie told him. “He’s been my friend since we were kids. His mom works in the castle, and his dad was a knight.” Emphasis on the was.

“If we become friends can I call you Julie?” Reggie asked. Luke reached over Julie and smacked Reggie on the back of his head. “Ow!” It made Julie realize how much taller he was than her. She’s never had him so close, his shoulder occasionally bumping into her.

Julie laughed, “You can.”

“See,” Reggie said, reaching over to smack Luke who dodged his hand. “She said it’s fine.” Luke stayed silent and continued walking, still not leaving Julie’s side. “When will I know that we’re friends.” Luke sighed, but he didn’t say anything.

“You’ll know,” Julie assured him.

“Nice,” Reggie said joyfully. They kept walking, the night sounds of crickets and winds surrounding them. Julie didn’t realize how much safer she felt with them around until she realized there was no pounding in her chest. She hadn’t felt that nest of safety in a long time. Reggie said, “I think Nick was good. Surprised he’s not knighted yet.”

“There’s a max amount of knights we can have in total,” Julie told them. “We retire some, we get some. I think they forgot when they started speed graduating oldest to youngest.” Luke and Reggie were the first to go through the expediated process.

“We never got our knighting ceremony,” Reggie sighed. “We got a text.”

“I’ll make sure you guys get one after all of this is over,” Julie promised him. Her dad wouldn’t say no to that.

“Thanks, Princess,” Reggie said with a beam. “Can’t wait.” She thought that Reggie was talking a lot, but she realized he spent all day with kids and probably missed conversation with people his age. “We didn’t really get to know Nick that much during the academy. We all had our own crews.” He knew how to keep conversations going.

“Luke and you had a crew?” Julie realized her slip up almost immediately. She turned to Luke who had a small smirk on his face.

“We friends already?” Luke asked her in a cocky tone. Who knew the silent knight was so smug? Julie rolled her eyes and looked at Reggie who had wide puppy eyes and a frown.

“That’s not fair,” Reggie whined, not picking up that her dropping the “sir” wasn’t on purpose. “You spend more time with her.”

“That was an accident,” Julie said. “Apologies.” All she did was apologize to him.

“I see… But no,” Reggie said. “We didn’t really have a crew. We had a third friend, but he quit. You might know him, actually.”

“Who?” Julie raised an eyebrow.

“Alexander Mercer. I believe his mom is chill with your dad… The King.” Julie smiled at the idea of her dad being _chill_ with Lady Ann Mercer.

“I know of him,” Julie said. She recognized his face while he was playing the drums in the video. “I’ve probably only seen him in passing.”

“You might meet him,” Reggie said. “He’s always there. We would still hang out after training.”

“Did you guys ever sleep?” Julie asked.

“They made us go days without sleep,” Reggie waved it off. “It’s nothing. That’s why I’m losing on my sleep tonight.”

“The kids are going to run you over tomorrow,” Luke told him. “And I get first sleep tomorrow.” They kept talking and Julie started blocking them out. She got really good at that after her mom died.

The boys had this system for their knighthood she didn’t recognize, and it’s been right outside her door for two weeks. Their bond made her smile, it reminded her of her and Flynn. She wondered what they were like as a trio.

They got out of the woods, and Julie showed them the hole in the cemetery fence. She smiled at Luke when she pointed at it, and he gave her a small smile, too. They snuck through, and Julie pulled up her hoodie once she started seeing people. She didn’t think the people would care, but she didn’t want a royal knight, especially an older one, to see her. She technically had a curfew, and her dad would think this was another way of acting up when in reality, she needed to learn to breathe somewhere new.

Reggie started walking ahead, leaving Julie and Luke behind him. There was a windowless building, and Julie knew it was it. Luke still walked close to her, asking her, “Are you ready for this, Princess?” Julie stayed still in time for a moment, staring at his smile.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So maybe writing ahead has thrown me off more than I thought it would lmao. I forget you guys are back here, and I'm already on chapter 16. The good thing is that I'm catching a lot of plot holes I get to fill in. The next chapter is really fun, and I can't wait for you guys to read it! My school schedule isn't really busy right now, so except updates every 3 to 4 days. Thank you for reading! <3


	12. Just Julie

Julie walked in and although everyone’s heads spun to greet the boys, when their eyes fell on her, they smiled. Some said hello, someone announced that it was the princess, and they went back to minding their own business. There was rock music playing on speakers, but it wasn’t obnoxious. Julie’s eyes went to the stage the boys were playing on, the lights around it off. There was a keyboard put to the side, and she wanted to get her hands on it.

“Julie?” a voice she recognized said behind her. She turned and saw Prince William running up to her, jumping in place when he got in front of her. “I’ve been wondering when you were going to get invited here.”

“Hi, Willie,” Julie said, hugging him, his long hair brushing on her hands.

“You have to meet my boyfriend,” Willie said, looking around. “Who are you here with?” Julie looked to her side and realized the boys were gone from her side. “There he is,” Willie said, pointing to a pile of people wrestling on the floor. Luke and Reggie were in it, keeping a blond down to the floor. Everyone else went unphased, so Julie could assume this was done often.

“Help,” the blond said meekly and reached out to Willie. Willie laughed and ran over to help him up, Reggie and Luke getting off him. Luke stayed on the floor, smiling with his chin on his knees. Julie had never seen him so happy, and it made her heart warm. Reggie made eye contact with Julie and he pointed in the direction of a group of people, a brown haired girl in the middle of the crowd. He got up and dusted himself off before walking straight to her. Julie wanted to see the girl’s reaction, but her view got blocked by Willie. She didn’t see Luke stand up.

Willie led Alex to her by his arm and said, “Julie, meet Alex!”

“Hello, Alex,” Julie said to him with a smile. “It’s great to meet you.”

Alex went in for a hug. It took Julie by surprise, but she hugged him back. It was homey sensation. “It’s so great to meet you too.” When he pulled away, he kept smiling. “My mom never stops talking about you. I swear.”

“Your mom is a lovely person,” Julie told him. She looked at Willie and then remembered he was in the same position as her, just not as deep. “What are you doing here? Your kingdom isn’t closing its borders?”

“No,” he shook his head. “We’re preparing for any refugees we get, actually. We’re just a kingdom away. We want them to feel safe until they can go home.” If they were able to go home. “Me on the other hand,” he smirked. “I ran away for a bit.” He put his arm around Alex and kissed him on the temple. “Couldn’t stay away from this one for too long.”

“I’m also on a run, but just for an hour or two,” Julie said to him. Alex pointed over at Reggie who was mixing together random concoctions at the bar, the girl helping him with a flirty smile on her face. Julie wished she could feel as free as that girl looked.

“I’m not watching this again,” Alex sighed, covering his mouth with his hand.

“I am,” Willie said, pulling away and walking over.

“I think he can get you front row seats,” Alex said and gestured at Willie’s back.

Julie made a face. “I’ll pass.”

“Come,” Alex said, motioning her to go with him. “Let’s sit while they go throw up together.” Julie smiled and went to sit across from him at a booth in the corner. The seats were well kept for a place ran by teenagers although the wooden tables had a lot of things carved into them. She saw the year 1995 on there.

Julie didn’t know what to tell him, but she remembered the video, using it to cover the silence. “You’re great on the drums.” Alex perked up, shyly scratching the back of his head. She wondered if he picked that up from Luke or if Luke picked it up from him.

“You saw that?” he said, looking down at the table and tracing a few of the etched couple names. “I didn’t get to see it before they took it down. I heard we looked good, though.” Julie particularly knew that Luke looked great.

“Yeah,” Julie agreed. “You guys are really talented. I think you guys could really be something some day.”

“I hear you’re quite the talent yourself, Princess Julie,” Alex said to her. Julie raised an eyebrow. She never performed in public.

“Has your mom seen me play?” she asked.

“No,” Alex said. He pointed his nose to Luke who was pumping his fist in the air, screaming _chug, chug, chug_ with everyone. There was a roar of cheers after a few seconds. Then, people screaming in disgust. Julie heard Luke telling people to get Reggie water. He was a natural leader. “Luke did.”

Julie felt her heart stammer, and she looked at Luke in curiosity as he took a pile of napkins from a table. He caught her eye for a second, but he rushed back to Reggie. He talked about her? “Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Alex said. “He speaks highly of you.”

“Did he also tell you I tried to get him fired?”

“He doesn’t linger on negative things. He has enough going on inside his head. I think.” Julie looked at Alex who shrugged. “I don’t know. He doesn’t really open up to us. I can tell you everything about Reggie’s life before he got to the academy, but we don’t know anything about Luke’s. He gets sad when he talks about it, so we don’t push it further.”

Julie didn’t know what to tell him. She knew Luke had this lingering aura similar to hers, but she couldn’t quite describe it still. Him being around always made something in her tug east, away from him. It made her want to keep the door between them closed but the more she opened it, the more she wanted to rip the door off permanently.

Alex cleared his throat, feeling the silence. “Willie has also told me about you. Said you guys were good friends in your childhood.” Julie smiled and noticed a different smile on Alex’s face. Like he knew an inside joke of theirs that was supposed to be a secret.

“Did he tell you?”

Alex chuckled. “Yes.”

“I mean it’s only common courtesy you tell the person you’re dating that you’re engaged to someone else,” Julie said, making Alex laugh and sit back in his seat. Alex was the new bird she was meant to find. “No, I’m kidding.” Julie shook her head. “They just said that. But obviously, it was annoying enough for us to joke about it.”

Alex paused for a second and rested his jaw on his hand, looking at her with his eyes squinting. “Weren’t you like, twelve?”

“Welcome to being a monarch. They’re always trying to marry you off, especially when you’re close to someone of higher class. Or a prince in general.” Willie had three older siblings which meant his job was to marry someone of importance and that someone to his parent’s preference, was Julie. Her parents didn’t explicitly say it, either, but they always implied she’d have to get married young. She ignored it as hard as she could, but it would be like ignoring that she woke up in a castle every day.

“Do they still do that? Try to marry you off to foreign princes?” Julie shook her head, looking down at her hands. She folded them neatly.

“Not since my mom got sick.” She took a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling. “I know it’ll start again soon. I have a feeling.”

“Even with everything going on?” She assumed his mom didn’t hide things from him and neither did the boys. Alex probably knew more than everyone else their age, considering the high spirits in the club. A stark contrast to the gloom in the castle. Maybe that was just how teenagers prepared for war.

“Yeah.” Julie told him. “They’re scared of being left without a monarch. If my dad gets,” Julie said, knocking on the wood of the table, “killed during this, my mom isn’t here to step up to be queen. It’d be me. But I mean, I’m sixteen. Almost seventeen. I can’t get married until I’m eighteen at least.” Even if she had until age eighteen, Julie wasn’t convinced she’d find the love of her life so fast and under so much pressure. She wasn’t convinced she’d want to be a mother by nineteen.

“Have they been training you like crazy to take over?”

“Since I was little. My dad still needs a lot of help from people like your mom because he got his training so late. I’m practically prepared enough to take over tomorrow if I have to. They changed the law so I can be queen as young as fourteen, and I’d get an expediated ceremony like Luke and Reggie in times of crisis. My entire life can get flipped upside down, and I can’t control it.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex told her, putting his hands over hers on the table. Julie gave him a soft smile. Nobody had ever felt sorry for her being born into royalty. His empathy made it feel like she wasn’t Princess Julie. Just Julie. And she wanted to be her forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alex + Willie + established relationship all at once :) They're cute. I hope you guys liked this chapter despite me getting sad at the end.


	13. Smitten

Reggie was wrapped in a blanket, sitting in the booth next to Alex who was patting him on the back. “You have to stop doing things like this just because you like attention,” Alex told him gently. Luke brought over an apple juice box and put it in front of Reggie who looked at him with sparkling eyes.

Luke rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to hold it up for you,” Luke told him. Reggie pouted, but he reached over and started sipping on the juice. Luke looked at Princess Julie who had a content smile on her face. It wasn’t a wide smile, but she seemed to be having as good of a time as she did when she went bird watching. He debated for a few seconds before sitting next to her in the booth, many inches away. He remembered her telling him that she wouldn’t bite, but he knew that he did.

“Where is Willie?” Alex asked, looking around the club.

“Mopping,” Luke told him. Alex scrunched up his face, understanding. He looked at Reggie across from him and tapped your nose. “Your girl left. I don’t think she’ll text back after this.” Reggie rolled his eyes, but he knew Luke was right. She got a few chunks of vomit in her hair.

Julie asked Reggie, “Are you going to be okay?” Reggie nodded, still sipping on the juice. Luke knew that when he pulled the straw away, it would be completely chewed up.

“He’s done this before and ran miles the next morning,” Luke assured her. “He’ll be okay in an hour. He’ll probably still play tonight.” Princess Julie perked up, and her glow made Luke want to shrink back into the old booth.

“You guys are playing tonight?”

Alex said without much though, “You should play with us, Princess.”

“I don’t know any songs you guys would have,” Princess Julie said.

“Would sheet music help you?” Alex asked. Luke’s heart was already beating out of his chest. He was put under a spell when he saw her play from a small distance, and he couldn’t imagine him making it through the night alive if he was on the same stage as her. He didn’t know when his feelings got so out of control.

Princess Julie nodded. “It would, actually.” Alex clapped his hands in excitement and stood up on the booth, jumped over, going to find their binder they kept in the club’s cabinets. Luke forced himself to not turn to look at Julie, her eyes always innocent and bright. He stared at Reggie who was done with his child sized apple juice and sure enough, the straw was chewed up at the edge.

“I feel better,” Reggie told them.

“Fake,” Luke reached over to flick him on the nose. Reggie slapped his hand away, accidentally hitting his own chin in the process. Luke laughed out loud and realized the Princess had chuckled right next to him. It was strange to laugh with her as if they had been friends all along, all their lives. He almost turned to look at her, but he forced his head to look for Alex who had stopped to talk to Willie and a few other people.

“Princess,” Reggie asked her, “did you see that video?”

“I did,” she nodded. “You guys are great.” _Amazing_ she had said earlier to him. Luke tried to look at her through the corner of his eyes, but when she turned her entire head to look at him, he turned the other direction again.

“It got taken down,” Reggie frowned. They didn’t know Luke and Bobby were behind its removal. Bobby alone, was capable of making them all miserable, even Alex who was family friends with him. Luke didn’t intend to hurt people he loved. But it was for the best, even though Luke knew it probably would’ve been a nice fantasy for them to cling onto in the midst of war. The only other thing Bobby told him about the video after its removal was to avoid getting posted online. It had been a rule for while. Luke’s social media pages were blank, but he had them either way to interact with people in the academy. Reggie once said he was a ghost on social media.

“I noticed,” Princess Julie said, this time with a frown. “I wonder why.”

“Haters,” Reggie sighed. He wasn’t far off.

Alex came back with Willie, the binder in hand and passed it over to Julie. He slid in next to Reggie and Willie sat next to Luke who had to scoot close to the Princess, their elbows touching for the second time that night. He tried to keep close to himself, but it was impossible. Princess Julie went through the binder, scanning the songs with a grin on her face.

“Who wrote these?” she asked.

“All of us,” Luke answered her.

“Mostly Luke,” Alex butted in. Luke glared at him but before he could deny the claim, Julie looked at him and he instinctively looked at her.

“You’re amazing,” she said to him, before looking back down. Luke wished he hadn’t changed the lightbulbs in the club weeks before because he knew he was blushing, and he knew at least one of the boys was going to notice. He covered his face, pretending to be leaning his head on his hand to look over at the binder.

After looking for a few minutes, Julie held up the pages to “Edge of Great” to them. “That’s a good one,” Reggie said, standing up. Alex pulled him back down.

“Rest,” Alex said to him. “Willie can play bass.” Reggie sighed, but he didn’t argue back. Luke knew he’d be asleep when he came back no matter how loud the music was. The three of them had to carry him back to the academy once, and their superiors thought he was drunk until they smelled the throw up.

They stood up and Luke patted Reggie’s head, Alex leading Julie over to the stage by the hand. It was strange how fast Alex connected with her, but they were both more level-headed people which made sense. They both grew up with wealthy backgrounds with stricter expectations. There was an unspoken understanding between them like there was with him and Reggie.

People started getting closer as they started getting the instruments ready, Julie setting out the music in front of the keyboard they had at hand. Luke spoke into the microphone, “No recording please!” People started putting their phones away, respecting their wishes.

The princess played a few notes, getting a random _woo_ in the back. She giggled, and Luke knew he’d dream about it later that week. Luke got the club guitar and started playing the same tune, Princess Julie looking at him and smiling. He couldn’t help but smile back, looking her in eyes. She looked down at the music sheet and started playing the music, singing. Luke held his breath.

**Running from the past**

**Tripping on the now**

**What is lost can be found, it's obvious**

“Get it, Princess!” someone yelled from the audience. Julie smiled the same way she smiled in the family portrait Luke once stared at.

**And like a rubber ball**

**We come bouncing back**

**We all got a second act, inside of us**

Princess Julie pulled off her microphone, the entire club cheering for her. She came up to Luke, and they started singing to each other. He didn’t look away from her eyes for a single moment. With music, it was easy. This was Julie.

**I believe**

**I believe that we're just one dream**

**Away from who we're meant to be**

**That we're standing on the edge of**

**Something big, something crazy**

**Our best days are yet unknown**

**That this moment is ours to own**

**'Cause we're standing on the edge of great**

* * *

Luke watched Julie hug Alex and Willie goodbye outside of the club. It was midnight before they knew it, and Luke encouraged the Princess to wrap it up. Reggie called him a party pooper, but Luke just hit his forehead with the palm of his hand, and he stayed quiet. Reggie stood next to Luke a few feet away as the Princess said her final goodbyes to other people coming out of the club.

“So,” Reggie said to him, bumping his shoulder into his. “You think she’s cute?” Luke bumped him back harder.

“No,” Luke said. “We just both like music.”

“You and I both like music and you never want to kiss me.”

“I’ll kiss you right now, right now.”

“No thank you,” Reggie said, taking a step away from him. “But seriously. She makes you blush.” Luke run his hands through his own hair, trying to think of something to say. He knew someone was going to see it, but he didn’t think it would be Reggie who was supposed to be passed out.

“Just do me a favor and drop it, dude,” Luke said, starting to whisper as the Princess approached him. “It’s nothing.” Reggie didn’t say anything, but he had a smirk on his face. Princess Julie smiled as she stood in front of them. “Ready?” Luke asked her.

“Yeah,” she said, putting her hands in her pocket. He looked down at her, her face shining under the moon. She had a post-show glow, and he knew that despite everything, he was going to be completely smitten by her.

As they started walking towards the cemetery, Willie called out, “Goodbye, future wife!” Princess Julie started laughing and turned around to wave.

“Bye future king!” Princess Julie called to him. Luke raised an eyebrow at Reggie who shrugged, still dizzy from his one-person vomit party earlier. They walked in the same form as before, the Princess in between them and occasionally bumping elbows with Luke. He wondered what went through her head as she walked, humming songs under her breath. What she really thought about him. It was starting to drive him crazy not being able to read someone so easily as he read everyone in the academy. Princess Julie was a walking dictionary definition of anonymity.

But the Julie on stage? He could see right through her. He’s known her his whole life and maybe in the past ones. And that gave him a sense of comfort he hadn’t had in ages.

They snuck back into the castle, Luke holding his breath until the made it into the hallway.

“First sleep,” Reggie called, crashing into their room door, and disappearing in.

“I’m setting a timer,” Luke called to him. He wouldn’t, though. He’d let Reggie get another two hours because Luke knew he’d just thrash back and forth in the bed, unable to sleep. The Princess’ guard friend came down the hall, the Princess walking up to him to say thank you. Luke watched him carefully. How leaned into her and gave her a quick hug that left her paralyzed for a second before she returned it. He looked away, trying to find something in the dark hallway to distract him in those five seconds.

“Goodnight, Julie,” Nick said to her, kissing her hand. Julie said goodnight after pulling away her hand. Nick nodded his head at Luke who ignored him as he walked past him and left them alone in the dark. Luke watched the Princess rub the back of her hand where Nick kissed it, seeming stunned with the action. He wondered, but he wouldn’t ask. He’d burry it. He walked towards her again, and they walked together.

He walked the Princess to her door, and she opened it. She turned to look at him, and she said, “Thank you. I know you didn’t really want to take me.”

“I’m glad I did, Princess,” he said. He couldn’t help but smile, and it made her grin. They stared at each other for a few moments, Luke looking at the ceiling for a second and then back at her, her eyes still on him.

“Goodnight,” she finally said.

“Goodnight.”

* * *

Luke and Reggie were eating breakfast in the grand dining room the next morning. Luke had relaxed, feeling like they got away with it. But after a single bite of a pancake, he looked up and saw King Ray and Princess Julie walking in together. The King was furious, a deep frown on his face decorated next to deep forehead lines.

Luke and Reggie rushed to stand up, Luke accidentally knocking over a glass of orange juice. He didn’t know whether to pick it up or get on his knee but since Reggie was down already, he shakily got down himself. The King spoke, “I am not happy with what happened last night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I believe (!) that this is my longest chapter yet with 2k words but don't get used to it lol. I'm a few chapters ahead, and they're already all shorter. I just really liked writing in that environment with all of them together. It felt really cute. I'm also a big fan of Luke being the dad friend taking care of everyone, especially Reggie who is just pure toddler aged chaos and very similar to me. It would feel like Alex would be that friend, but I feel like he's also just a baby squish sometimes.   
> Either way, thank you guys for reading <3 Stay safe and I'll update soon :)


	14. Promise

Julie’s dad knew as soon as he woke up. She walked into the kitchen, expecting a regular family breakfast, but it was her dad sitting there alone with his arms crossed and serious parenting face on. He confirmed with her the story the newly installed security cameras had showed him, and they headed straight to the direction of the dining room.

“You can’t get them in trouble,” Julie told her dad, almost pleading him as he marched ahead of her.

“They put you in danger,” he said to her.

“I made them take me,” Julie said. He turned to look at her, somehow looking more disappointed than before. “They didn’t want to. But I made them.” He took a deep breath and then kept walking, with less purpose somehow. He wasn’t one to get mad so easily or take his anger out on people. When they walked in, she saw Reggie and Luke scramble to get on one knee, Luke spilling some orange juice on the table and on his white button up.

“I am not happy with what happened last night,” her dad told them. He started pacing back and forth, as he usually did when her or Carlos did something stupid. Julie knew her dad had nothing after she told him he made them take her.

Then he got a phone call, a saving grace, and he held up his finger to the boys to tell them to wait. Julie and Luke made eye contact, and she mouthed, “It’s okay,” to him. He nodded slightly to signal that he understood her when her dad looked away.

“Are you sure?” her dad asked. Julie tried to listen to the other voice, but she couldn’t make out who it was. “Okay. I’ll be there,” he said, hanging up. He looked at Reggie and Luke, motioning them to stand up. “Come with me please.”

“What?” Julie felt her heart drop in her chest. Was he going to fire them?

“It’s fine,” he assured her. She relaxed, believing him. “Go to your room.” He put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “Stay in there, okay?”

She put her hand on stop of his. “What’s going on, dad?”

“I’ll tell you later. I promise.” She knew to believe him and although she wanted to follow behind them, she went upstairs.

* * *

Julie paced back and forth in her room. Her breakfast was brought up to her, but she let it sit cold. She wasn’t hungry, and she could feel the anxiety chewing away at her bone by bone. Any little piece of happiness she felt the day before was dead.

There was a small knock on her door, and she ran over, hoping it was Luke. It was Carlos, two chocolate bars in hand. “I know I’m supposed to stay in my room but,” he said holding out one of the bars, “can I hang with you?” Julie smiled and brought him in. They both sat down on her couch in silence, the noise of the wrappers filling the room.

“Do you ever miss mom?” Carlos asked her. The question took her by surprise. It had been a while since they talked about her.

“Every second of every day,” she said to him.

“What do you think she’d be doing right now?” Julie imagined her by her dad’s side, getting ready for whatever was coming. She imagined her next to them, telling them that they would be safe and that nothing was going to happen to them. Her dad couldn’t do that. He couldn’t tell them a single lie, even if their peace was on the line. He knew what it was like to be lied to.

“Playing the piano,” Julie answered.

Carlos stayed quiet for a moment before saying, “Are you playing again?”

“Yeah.”

“You should play for me sometime.”

“I will,” Julie said. She put her arm around him. “And I’ll go to more of your games.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” she said. “I want to see if Reggie is as bad as everyone says.”

“He is.” Julie and Carlos stayed joking together for a while, and when she turned to the balcony, she single bird perched outside. Before she could see what type of bird it was, she heard footsteps in the hall. “They’re back,” Carlos said, shoving his wrapper in his pocket and running to the door. Julie stayed behind him, looking at Luke through the doorway. He had a solemn look on his face, and he looked away from her eyes. They were back to day one somehow, and she needed to know why.

“Sir Luke,” she said to him, “can you come in here for a moment.” If he could have said no, he would have. He walked in, his hands behind back. “Can you close the door, please?” He stared at her for a moment, debating to do so before he did. He looked at her again, his eyes wandering over her room. “What’s going on?”

“I can’t tell you, Princess.”

Julie frowned, crossing her arms. “I’m going to find out eventually.”

“I can’t talk to you about it. You have to go to your father, first. He wants to tell you himself.” Julie felt like walking out without another word, but she didn’t want him to think she was mad at him again.

“Thank you,” she said, walking up to him. She stood in front of him, looking up to his face. He looked down, his face relaxing. “Please do me a favor and stay here.”

She thought he wouldn’t agree, but he simply said, “You’re welcome.” She smiled at him, impulsively reaching out to touch the orange juice stain before retreating her hand quickly as if it burned and scurried out of her room. She went down the hall and made her way to the main staircase, finding a couple of maids who were rushing from one place to another. She wondered what they were preparing for. She straightened herself out when she drew nearer to her destination, trying to ignore the flustering feelings she had in her fingers and chest. She walked with her head held tall to her dad’s office on the first floor where she knew he was.

Bobby was walking outside of the office when she was feet away from the door. Her bowed to her before walking away, Julie going inside before she could close the door. Her dad looked up, and his face fell when she saw her. He had to keep his promise.

“You owe me a long explanation,” she said to him.

“I know,” he said, gesturing towards one of the chairs in front of him. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve always kept you in the loop, but I didn’t want to worry you until things got serious.” Julie walked to the chairs and sat down, folding her hands and legs.

“So,” she said to him. “It’s serious?” He stayed silent for a moment, folding his hands together under his chin. He stared at her, and she knew he was thinking about how much she looked like her mom. But he wouldn’t say it in a time like this. They spent so much time together for her royal training that they knew each other inside out. Although her mom was the one who she told everything to, her mom could never read her body language and mind quite like her dad did.

“First off,” he said. “To get it out of the way, I’m not mad about last night. Just tell me if you’re going out and don’t go out so late. Just,” he tapped his fingers on his face, “try not to go out at night. Or at all. I mean, it’s relatively safe here to where I don’t have to keep you guys locked down, but it would make me feel better.”

“Is it that bad?” Her dad looked at her with worried eyes, putting his hands down on his desk and straightening up in his seat.

“Yes,” he said. Her heart iced up. “King Caleb wants some land, near his borders. We’ve been saying no for years. We thought he’d leave it at that, but he’s been building his military for years. He’s threatening to invade those towns soon if we don’t reach an agreement.”

“Which towns?” she asked. Her dad turned his eyes to the portrait of her mom he had hanging in her office and then back to her. He was asking her for guidance, and she knew why. “Is it the farm towns?” she asked him. His long silence told her yes. And it also told her what he was thinking. “You’re not considering it. Are you?” She rose from her seat, her dad looking at her face with a deep sorrow. “No,” she told him, shaking her head. She felt her eyes swell with tears, thorns growing in her throat. “You won’t.”

“Julie-,”

“You won’t,” she said as if it were a command. She wiped the tear she had falling down her cheek and this time, she ran out without a word.

She couldn’t let it happen. Her and her mom watched children in those villages grow up, they took them school materials, and they had dinners with them. Her mom wanted the best life for those people and even though her dad’s hands seemed to be tied, Julie was going to cut those knots when she was queen.

Julie found herself standing in the castle stables. She was breathing hard, her hand on her heart that hit her chest with a deep violence. She walked as she tried to calm herself down, and she found her mom’s old horse. She patted it on the nose, and the horse leaned into her. She let out a shaky breath before breaking down to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little more political, but I won't make it overbearing. I'm starting to catch up with myself, so let's hope I get the urge to write a little more this week. Thank you for reading!!


	15. Stuck

When Princess Julie wasn’t anywhere in the castle, Luke called Flynn. His arm was shaking, having to keep his eye on the Princess at all moments now. The King told him they’d all have to eat together and that her trips outside the castle should be kept at a minimum. They showed him six different escape plans for the castle and two for the town. The Princess wasn’t allowed to leave city limits.

And he felt anger. As much as he wanted to shove it down, he felt angry with himself for believing the Princess was fine with him. She ran off, again, without a single word. He wished he was at the academy to punch out everything he was feeling on wooden training men. His guilt was also catching up to him, and as much as he didn’t want to care about the Princess, he already did.

His phone rang, and when he answered it, Flynn told him, “She’s in Costa Verde.”

“What?” Luke asked. Costa Verde was a town over, but it still took a while to get there.

“She got there on horse. Get one in the stables and head there. Don’t get the car. There’s no roads in Costa Verde wide enough for a car. I learned that the awkward way.” Luke was still processing how far the Princess got on her own, and he felt himself get even more upset.

“Okay,” he sighed into the phone. “Thank you, Lady Flynn.”

“No problem,” she said. “Go easy on her.” She hung up and left Luke feeling like the wind just got knocked out of him with a long wooden board to the ribs.

* * *

The horse the caretaker gave to him was well-trained, but Luke wasn’t an expert on horseback. He found himself holding back the reigns when the horse went too fast, but he swallowed down anything that tasted like breakfast when he remembered he had a job to do. He asked the caretaker for directions to Costa Verde, and it was fairly simple to get there.

It took half an hour before he saw tall stalks of corn in the distance and when he got over a hill, he realized it was acres of it. He let the mare go faster, seeing that he was more comfortable and that she was having a good time. He closed his eyes at moments, not enjoying the dirt and possible bugs going into his mouth. The corn fields stopped, and there was a small town there. He saw a wooden sign that had a corn painted under the carved in **COSTA VERDE**. He pulled back the reigns and looked around, the few people around raising eyebrows and whispering. He saw a woman rush her kids back inside their small brick house, her daughter dressed in a yellow dress waving at him before the door was shut in her face. He guessed men in suits riding horses didn’t come around so much.

“Can I help you, young man?” a woman’s voice asked him. He turned the mare to face the woman who seemed apprehensive of him, but she stood up straight with an authoritative look.

“I’m looking for Princess Julie,” he said, covering the sudden light of sun with his hand.

“She’s over there with the kindergartners,” the woman pointed. “Around the corner of that blue house, go straight and you’ll find her.” Luke bowed his head at the woman and thanked her before taking off, feeling his heart hammer into his ribs. He had to confront her, and it was burning him. He used to be fine with her not wanting him around as much as it stung. But her leaving after they sang together on a stage, after he met Julie, it confused him. It made him want to scream.

He saw her down the road in her lilac dress from the morning, standing on the second plank of a wooden fence, overlooking cows. She heard the horse when Luke brought it to an abrupt stop, and he made eye contact with her. He knew he looked furious, forcing himself to unclench his jaw as he got down the horse. She got off the fence and stood still as he approached her, his footsteps making dirt rise.

“You are not supposed to leave with out me,” Luke found himself shouting, his hands flailing. She looked down at the ground, and he turned away, sighing. He ran his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry, Princess Julie. It’s not my place to yell at you.”

“I’m sorry again, Sir Luke,” Julie told him, her voice soft. Then a wave of guilt flew through him. Her big eyes wouldn’t look up at him like they usually would. Her back was slouched, and her hands were clasped tightly together as if she would turn into dust. “I know I’ve been nothing but trouble for you.”

Luke crossed his arms, looking up at the sky. He didn’t know what he was searching for anymore. “It’s just very dangerous these days, Princess. You have to understand that I can’t let anything happen to you.” He looked back at her, and he found her eyes staring at him. “You don’t have to talk to me or tell me anything if you don’t want to. Just let me be there. I’ll stay up to twenty feet behind you, I just need to do my job.” The Princess’ eyes started to water and that’s when Luke started to really get nervous. “Wait, please don’t cry,” he told her as the first tear fell. She wiped it off with the back of her hand and shook her head.

“It’s impossible not to,” she said, gesturing at the fields with her free hand. “I’m about to lose them.” Luke raised an eyebrow. “These towns. These people. They don’t think they’re worth fighting for.” He looked out at the kids that were now at a further distance, chasing each other and their laughter echoing through the air. They hit him like bullets. “They’re the only reason I look forward to being queen.” Alex once told him to stop cowering away when a person was crying and to just hug them. But Luke couldn’t get himself to move forward to her.

He was stuck repeating himself. “I’m sorry, Princess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short chapter because I'm about to upload 16 right after this!!


	16. Souvenir Man

Julie and Luke arrived at the castle without anybody noticing. Luke watched Julie stand in front of her door, her hand on the handle before she let it go and looked at him with weary eyes. “I need some music.” Luke remembered his guitar in the corner of his castle room and told her to go ahead as he went to get it.

In the music room, Julie was sitting in front of the piano, playing random solemn notes. Luke got a chair and dragged it next to the piano where he had a good view of the Princess. _Eyes on her at all times_ rang the King in his head. That’s why he did that. No other reason.

Luke started playing his guitar, singing any lyrics that came into his head.

**Step into my world**

**Bittersweet love story about a girl**

**Shook me to the core**

**Voice like an angel, I've never heard before**

Julie watched him as he sang in her direction. Something was shifting. It was audible, and Luke felt it crawl up his skin to his chest where his heart was. She kept playing and added words herself.

**Here in front of me**

**Shining so much brighter than I have ever seen**

**Life can be so mean**

**But when he goes I know he doesn't leave**

She stopped playing the piano, and Luke stopped his strumming. They looked at each other, in a sense of _did that just happen?_ And Luke could accept it, but it was going to poison him to. He was already dizzy from closing his eyes and always seeing her face, smile, and radiance. The Princess had a quick affect on him, and he didn’t know why it was so hard to break his head away from her. Lives were on the line and here he was, playing rock star.

“Do you know if King Caleb is after something else, too?” she asked him. Luke woke up from her spell and took a few seconds to recall her question. He shook his head. “What instructions did they give you and Reggie?”

“Don’t go out at night. Watch you at all times. Doors and windows locked.” That reminded Luke of the balcony in the music room. He put his guitar down and walked over to the glass doors, tugging on them to make sure they were locked. The servants had quickly followed instructions.

When he walked back over, he found that the Princess had picked up his guitar. He sat down with his arms crossed, a small smile on his face. She asked him, “Did he bring up last night?”

“Reggie told him you sang last night so that helped smooth out the lines. But either way, he wouldn’t be able to find you guys new knights at a time like this. King Ray has to pick his battles right now.”

“Literally,” the Princess said, playing a random note on the guitar. By the way she held it, Luke could tell she had some practice on it, but she seemed insecure. Like her memories of the guitar were fogged up, and she couldn’t walk to them. “He just told me to go out at a reasonable time. I think he’d prefer I not go out at all.” The King told them he didn’t mind if the royal children went out. Just to keep it very minimal and safe. Luke knew it was because of chance. If there was a chance the castle got raided, the King would hope his kids were out in town just in case the castle escape plans didn’t work. If the town got raided, he’d hope his kids were in the castle already making their way to the secret hiding spots. It was all up to fate.

“We can still go bird watching,” Luke told her. She didn’t meet his eyes, but she smiled, strumming another note. “The forest is always empty from what I see.”

“There’s stories of ghosts in there, but I’ve never seen any.” Princess Julie played a few more notes in a random order and put the guitar back down. “So, you guys stood up for me. By telling my dad I played music.” Luke scratched the back of his head, looking down at his guitar where a peeled off sticker mark was left. He peeled off the previous stickers ages ago when he got to the academy, but he never bothered to cover it up. It was like a broken souvenir from home.

“Just Reggie. He tried to take all the blame, but your dad said it was on you. I kind of just stood there the entire time. I don’t really talk to my superiors.”

“You don’t,” she said matter-of-factly. Luke wondered if she was referring to herself. “Were you always so quiet?” Luke felt like he was under a microscope. The Princess was an overly curious person when there wasn’t a wall between them, and it made him want to escape sometimes. This job was supposed to be simple and instead, he was knee deep into a friendship with her that was inevitably going to get messy.

“What do you mean?” was all he could say.

“When you’re at the club or on stage,” she said, “it’s like you’re back to your old self. But anywhere else, you’re so quiet and sometimes gloomy. Like you’re scared. Always watching your back.”

“I’m not scared,” Luke said to her. It’d be horrible to have the person who is supposed to defend you with their life be scared. “And it’s my job to watch our backs.”

“I am scared,” the Princess admitted, turning to her piano. She stroked the keys gently, not making any noise. “I don’t think we’re as different as we think we are.” What did Alex tell her when they were alone?

“In what ways are we the same?” Luke asked her. He didn’t mean that in a negative connotation. He wanted to know the Princess as much as his instincts were flashing lights at him and telling him to back off.

“Sometimes we let the world go by us but sometimes, we really love to live in it.” The corner of his mouth tugged into a smile. She pitched in with a sigh, “You’re just not as bratty as me.”

“I don’t think you’re bratty,” he told her. “You just know what you need and aren’t afraid to ask for it. You just want to feel secure again.” As much as it hurt Luke to know he wasn’t wanted at first, he brought himself to understand her. Grief mixed with a war and royal expectations. Luke didn’t know how she got up every day.

“I know it’s not a bad thing but sometimes it’s at the expense of others,” she sighed. “Like you. I treated you so poorly because I just wanted things to stay as normal as possible after so many changes. I need to work on that.”

“Well now that you know, you can work on it. It’s not the end of the world if you make mistakes.”

“Yeah,” she smiled down at the piano keys. “I guess not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is one of my favorite chapters. Not much going on but some details for later. Some more feelings. An honesty, lowkey corny, conversation. But I really think Luke and Julie are lowkey corny sometimes hehe. Both ironically and unironically.   
> I'm practically caught up to what I've written ahead so hope that the spirits of fanfiction posses my body over my upcoming spring break, and I can get ahead again so I update more often.

**Author's Note:**

> I had this very vivid dream of a Princess Julie running off to go somewhere to talk to village people and Knight Luke running behind her like "you are not supposed to leave without me" and they fight, and I couldn't shake it off so here I am. I blame Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity so yes, look for parallels later on. As of now, all of my chapters will be short (700-1.5k range), so I can update more often. I'm honestly excited for this AU.  
> This fic will have a lot of mentions of Ray and Carlos because I still want the grieving with family parts in this fic because I think they're a huge part of JatP, and I don't want to take that away. Flynn will also be here often because I really think she's Julie's rock. The boys will come in the following chapters very soon, and I will most likely use songs from the show because I'm a song fic person, and I will not let anyone take that away from me. My tumblr is webarebares and my JaTPish tumblr is lgbtyrus if you have any questions! That is all! Peace and love <3


End file.
